Mating Mischief
by lezonne
Summary: After Natsu's attempt to mark her, Lucy runs into Sting. So why is he so interested in her now? He never thought the bond would intensify weeks later after saving her on a mission. Sting X Lucy. Warnings inside beginning at chapter 6. Rating upped to an M.
1. Bitten and Forbidden

**A/n:** For the timeline of this story, it takes place immediately after the Grand Magic Games and disregards anything to do with the arrival of the dragons.

* * *

Lucy smiled, tried to hold the expression, and dissolved into a fit of giggles. She knew drinking would probably be a mistake, but she couldn't help herself. Everyone was having fun, and she didn't want to be left out.

It was time for a celebration. They won the Grand Magic Games and it was time to party. Everyone was healed and ready for a great time. She'd even made it out of the castle without issue, and they had a few days before they needed to make the journey back to Magnolia.

Looking around the guild, she felt her spirits soar. Everyone was in a great mood, partying and relaxing for the first time in weeks. With the stress of the games over they could finally take time to themselves, and she couldn't be happier.

Bobbing her head along to the beat of the music, she laughed when she noticed Bacchus and Cana arguing about something over a barrel of beer. They were both flushed and slightly unsteady, using the barrel to balance as they yelled. She couldn't make out their voices over all the other noise, but it didn't matter. Everything seemed funny right now.

Nearby she could see her other friends pairing off, the duos all laughing and joking together. Across the room Natsu and Gray were fighting like usual, Juvia fawning behind them at the sight of Gray. She grinned, hoping that ship would sail sooner than later.

Watching the pair fight was funnier than usual. Due to the alcohol their hits weren't as direct, and once Natsu completely missed Gray's shoulder, laughing way too loudly at his mistake. They eventually dissolved into laughter themselves, slapping each other playfully on the back until they fell over.

Lucy smiled, swinging her legs as she sat at the bar. She had a bottle of something in her hand, she couldn't quite remember what anymore, and it was making her feel pretty good.

"Loo-cie," Natsu slurred, coming to sit beside her. He threw his arm around her shoulders, laughing with her when they both got dizzy from their alcohol consumption.

"Y-you're gonna knock me off!" she laughed, squeezing her eyes together. She felt light, like she could literally bounce around the bar. Natsu said something she completely missed, grinning ear to ear as he caught her wrist gently to keep her from falling.

"Let's go outside," he said, pulling her up with him. He was just as clumsy as she was on their way to the door, the pair leaning on one another as they left. No one seemed to pay them any mind, too lost in their own laughter to care.

Lucy was just able to stand on her own once they left the building, swaying to one side. She still had the bottle in hand and it seemed to be ruining her balance. Natsu didn't sober up either and she couldn't ignore that he participated in a very long drinking game only an hour before. She was surprised he could still stand.

"Come on," he laughed, beckoning her to follow him. His eyes were glassy and he reeked of alcohol, but he had never looked happier. Letting loose seemed to do him wonders. "We can go to the park!"

She let him tug on her arm, running haphazardly with him through the streets. They stumbled as they half ran, half tripped through Crocus. The bottle in her hand was locked in a death grip, afraid to drop it on the ground. Her stomach felt like it was sloshing, and she could swear her head was swimming as they ran. Natsu was laughing, barely keeping himself from crashing into the ground. They should probably sit down she reasoned, but she was having too much fun.

Neither of them knew a lot about Crocus, but after rushing around for a while they finally located a grassy area and collapsed together, Natsu still laughing. The run sobered Lucy up some, and now she was just aware of how unhappy her stomach felt. Her head was still swimming, but she didn't feel quite so wobbly.

"It's the… the perfect night," he said, collapsing into the grass. She sat down beside him, holding her stomach as a gust of wind blew by. She stuffed the bottle into the earth, letting it remain there where it wouldn't break.

"It's beautiful," she agreed, looking up towards the stars. Thankfully the night was clear, not a cloud in sight. "A perfect ending to the Games."

"You can say that again!" he agreed, punching his arm into the air. Giving her a toothy grinned he studied her, the way the scant moonlight danced off the soft angles of her face.

She blushed under his attentions and Natsu grinned. "You're beautiful tonight, Luce."

"I think that's the alcohol talking," she replied, smiling at him. "If you were sober you'd just say I'm heavy."

He laughed but didn't say anything else, continuing to study her. His head felt funny, the alcohol clouding his judgment. He rarely drank but when he did, he tended to go overboard.

Studying Lucy, he left something in his chest tighten. She really did look lovely in the moonlight, not that she usually looked bad. The soft contrast caught the curves of her figure, highlighting her physique in a way he didn't typically notice.

He leaned towards her, before immediately jerking back, reaching to grab his head. He'd had the strangest desire to bite her.

Natsu didn't think he normally had that urge. Sure, he was well aware of his growing interests in her, but he didn't want to suddenly push things. Biting her sounded appealing, but it didn't seem like the best idea overall, even if she looked delicious.

That didn't sound right. Biting her would cause her pain, and that was the last thing he wanted, delicious or not.

Still, her neck looked divine in the light. Smooth skin completely unblemished, his teeth would leave the perfect mark at the juncture between her neck and shoulder. She looked positively delicious…

"Hey, you okay?" she asked, reaching for him. His eyes widened, following the wobbly line her arm made as she reached towards his face. He wanted to yell at her, ask her to keep away while he had this internal war with himself. The last thing Natsu wanted to do was harm her, but she looked so damn tempting tonight.

What the hell was going on with him?

Before he could stop himself his arm shot forward, something primal coming to life inside of him. He could feel his teeth biting into his lips, wanting nothing more than to sink into her pale skin and mark her as his.

He couldn't do that, she would hate him.

"Natsu?" she asked, breaking the silence when he didn't say anything. She tried laughing, looking nervous now. "Hey, come on, cut it out."

Lucy tried to pull her arm free, and that was the last straw. Losing what little self-control he seemed to have he lunged forward, pinning her to the ground while his fangs looked for her neck.

He _had_ to mark her.

"Natsu!" she screamed, her fear forcing itself into his clouded mind. For a moment he noticed her terror and pulled back, unable to bite the spot he desired. He'd truly be marking her that way, and she wouldn't even understand what he'd done.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from tasting her, no matter what reasonable things his mind screamed at him. Deciding to not do something that might shatter their friendship he changed his target at the last moment, biting higher on her neck closer to her jaw.

He misjudged the amount of force he needed to apply to break the skin, pulling back the moment she screamed. He could taste a few drops of her blood in his mouth, immediately disgusted with himself.

Drunk or not, he couldn't act like this with her.

Natsu didn't have time to react, suddenly jerked up off his beautiful teammate by force, thrown into the nearest object he couldn't decipher. For a split second he was disoriented, his hormone fueled brain and boggled liquor driven senses making sense of the scene before him too late.

 _Loke._ He must've opened his own gate when he heard Lucy screaming. Natsu could clearly make out the zodiac leader in the brilliant light of his power, hazy brain or not. But he didn't care about the person in front of him, just the girl he'd betrayed.

He felt his heart splitting, no amount of alcohol able to justify his actions. The blonde didn't even look in his direction, struggling to her feet with one hand pressed over the mark he'd left on her neck. Not a mating mark, just a regular bite.

He was so fucking stupid.

Natsu didn't have the energy to go after her as she took off, tripping once over the bottle she'd set down. It broke and she cried out, cutting into Natsu's heart. She didn't turn back however, getting up despite the rising smell of blood in the air, taking off in a random direction.

He wasn't totally worried, even if he just screwed up. Loke's powerful presence more than assured him that no one else would harm her as he took off to follow. Despite his desperate need to go after her and somehow explain himself, Natsu could feel himself failing. He didn't even have the energy to keep his eyes open, drifting off right there on the ground.

The almighty Dragon Slayer, bested by a drink and a spirit.

* * *

Lucy was crying, not entirely watching where she as going as she ran through the streets. Her steps were unsteady as she went, her path veering left and right whenever her vision blurred. She was sure she would pass out soon but it didn't matter, she just had to get _away_ from him. Her leg hurt as she ran, part of the glass having thankfully cut her shin and not her foot. She wouldn't let that pain stop her, not when she'd suddenly seen such a different side of Natsu.

She knew, even with her mind clouded, that Natsu wasn't acting normal. He was practically at war with himself back there before he tried ripping her throat out with his teeth.

Choking down a sob she sped up, well aware of Loke's footsteps following her. There was no way the celestial spirit was being beaten this easy, and she assumed he was giving her space for now even if she was hurt. He knew well enough when to let her be.

He didn't need to do that. She wasn't sure right now if she was scared, hurt, betrayed, or some jumbled combination of all three. All she knew was she didn't want to speak to Natsu.

Rounding a corner she finally slowed, her bubbling stomach demanding that she rest. She collapsed beside a building, leaning on the wall for support. One hand came to clasp over her shin, the other remaining on her neck. Her stomach was heaving, and she worried she'd be sick if she didn't rest. All that alcohol was really getting to her.

What a mess.

"Lucy," Loke said, crouching down beside her. He placed a gentle hand over her fingers clasping her neck, his eyes bright in the night. "Are you alright? What did that bastard do?"

She shook her head, trying to compose herself. Her mind felt heavy and slow, like the alcohol was weighing down on her. Surely she'd succumb to sleep soon. "Nothing – I don't know Loke. He… he wasn't acting himself."

"He bit you! If you hadn't screamed right then I may not have been able to come out and save you."

Lucy smiled despite herself, grinning at her spirit. "You didn't have to do that. Natsu wouldn't truly hurt me."

"Look at what he already did!" Loke seethed, standing from his position. He didn't know what came over Natsu, but he didn't like it one bit. That was the guy he entrusted to take care of his princess? "Stupid, god damn Dragon Slayers, acting like wild animals."

"I resent that," someone said, catching them off guard. Loke spun around, much faster than Lucy in her current state. Sting was coming out of the building she was leaning against, looking slightly bored. "I'm nothing like Natsu, just to set the record straight."

"No," Loke agreed, narrowing his eyes. "You're a Saber."

"Heey!" Lucy said, catching their attention. She was grinning despite the mark on her neck and the pain in her leg, cheeks flushed. Her head was spinning, the alcohol making its way into all her senses. "It's Stingy-bee."

The blond blanched, looking between the pair. His nose crinkled, giving the girl a once over. He glanced at Loke, looking confused. "Is she drunk?"

"You could say that," Loke muttered, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing out here?"

Sting rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he leaned on the wall. He turned his nose up, the smell hitting him hard. "Dragon Slayer, remember? I could smell her through the wall, alcohol and all." He scowled, narrowing his eyes at the spirit. "You I can't figure out. I actually thought she was alone out here. I couldn't even sense you."

Leo smirked, seeing no reason to tell the Saber his story. "You were just going to come out here and investigate a drunk girl, alone?"

"It's not what you're thinking, man. I just don't want someone puking outside our hotel. Fairies have their own place, she can be sick there."

Loke scoffed, shaking his head. Talking to this arrogant prick wouldn't get him anywhere. Turning away he focused on Lucy again, crouching down once more when he decided the Saber was nothing more than an annoyance.

Sting however would not be brushed off so easily. "She's Natsu's girl, isn't she?"

Eyes widening, the spirit stood once more, putting off an immense amount of magical power. "Never refer to her in such a manner. Lucy has a name, and you shouldn't associate her with that moron."

Holding up his hands, Sting shook his head. He looked snide, glancing between the pair like he found everything humorous. "I did hear you talking you know, super sensitive hearing and all. Did he do something wrong?"

"Why would you care?"

Sting shrugged, glancing at the mage again. She still had one hand clasped over her neck, leaning on the wall as she verged on unconsciousness. Briefly he noted her leg, wondering what happened there. His eyes widening, mouth dropping into a small 'o'. "He didn't."

"What?"

Stepping closer, Sting ignored Loke's protective stance, getting as close to the girl as he could. "Hey blondie, did he bite you?"

Lucy's head finally lifted, eyes widening at his words. With her fingers pressed over the puncture he had no way of knowing it was inflicted by teeth. "Uh… yes?"

Sting rolled his eyes. "What a moron." What he didn't understand was the girl still smelled different from Natsu, which didn't make sense. If she'd truly been marked, their scents should be similar even with the blood.

Maybe he fucked it up?

"Let me look at that," he said moving closer. Loke growled, getting in the blonds way. "Relax. I just want to see what it looks like."

"What does that matter?"

Sting huffed, tired of playing around with the fairies. "Well if he actually marked her, he's probably going to lose it if they don't get close to each other again soon."

" _Marked_?" Loke roared, distracted enough that Sting could slip by. He crouched in front of Lucy, gently prying her fingers from her neck.

Like he assumed, it wasn't done right. He hadn't personally done any marking before for a mate, but he'd seen the way Natsu was extra protective of the zodiac girl. If he'd intended on making a claim for her, he hadn't succeeded. The wound was irritated but it didn't show the right signs for a mating bite, and he immediately pulled his hand away and stood, his nose on fire from the rancid liquor smell on her breath. How much did the girl have to drink?

"Well, at least it's not that," he reasoned, smirking at how irritated her comrade seemed. "Least if that was the goal, it's done wrong. Guess you have nothing to worry about, blondie."

He turned on his heel, satisfied that he'd probably put a damper on the rest of their night. However he didn't get far, surprised when he felt something tugging on the back of his shirt. Glancing down, he noted the mage – _he believed her name was Lucy, right?_ – was holding onto him like she was afraid to let go.

"Why… why would Natsu need to mark me?" she asked quietly, staring at the blood on her hand. He noticed she was still holding her leg but the grip was loose, like she'd forgotten. "I don't understand."

"He really never told you?" Sting asked, surprised. "Aren't there like, four Dragon Slayers in your guild? One of them had to tell you about mating."

" _What_?" she screamed, her loud outburst hurting his eardrums. The man she'd come with looked just as stunned, staring silently at Sting. Honestly, he wasn't sure if her reaction was so over-the-top because of the alcohol he smelled on her or if she really just was that floored.

What a dork.

"That's how slayers mark potential mates," he replied, shrugging. "If the mark was placed correctly it'd be lower on your neck, and the signs are pretty obvious. Who knows, maybe Natsu just wanted to get lucky."

He really didn't expect his words to cause her eyes to water, honestly. Didn't this fairy just compete in the Grand Magic Games? Of course, she lost terribly in both rounds she participated in, but she should still have decently thick skin. How did the damn guild win if they had softie members like her?

"Natsu's not like that," she defended, but her gaze didn't rise this time. "He wouldn't try any of those things with me. He wouldn't!"

Sting still looked unconvinced, glancing between blondie and her horrified partner. He didn't look like he knew what to do, battling with himself about how to feel with what he'd learned.

Well, this was fun. Much better than getting smashed with a guild he was now supposed to run. He didn't know so much hilarious drama could occur so very early in the morning.

"Looks like he did," Sting reasoned, shrugging. "Even if he did kind of botch the job. Is he drunk too? Maybe he'll do better when he's sober. He leave the other mark too?"

Lucy looked horrified, staring up at him with round, frightened eyes. Sting didn't totally get it. Sure, the idea of being Natsu's mate would make his skin crawl, but wasn't she always attached at the hip to him? He'd even mistaken her for Natsu's earlier, so what was the big deal?

"Loke," she said quietly, addressing the man he didn't recognize. "You should go back. I know you're using a lot of magical energy to stay here."

"It's not that much," he snapped, raising his chin. Sting didn't know what they were yammering about, but it didn't make a bit of sense to him. "I'm not just going to leave you out here when you got attacked once already."

Sting felt his interest increase. Attacked? No, it couldn't be Natsu.

"I'll be okay," she said, giving him a meaningful look. '"I-I'll go back to the hotel soon, I just want to ask Stingy a couple more questions."

"Don't _call_ me that," he scowled, glaring at her.

"Lucy-"

"I'll be fine Loke," she interrupted, giving him a radiant smile in the moonlight. If Sting couldn't smell all the alcohol on her, dragon senses or not, he might actually believe her. "I just need to talk to Sting a couple more minutes and I'll head back, promise."

Loke looked unconvinced, glancing between the pair. His eyes darted to her leg a moment, questioning how she'd walk. "If I sense that you're in danger again, I'm coming back."

"Of course," she agreed, smiling at him as he faded into a pale light. Sting felt his eyebrows shoot up, realization hitting him. The idiot was a spirit.

He should be better at telling when someone is a celestial. After all, Yukino used the same kind of magic.

Once he was gone, Lucy's smile slid off her face. She fell against the wall once more, her fingers coming up to brush the wound like she couldn't believe it was there. "I… can I ask you another question?"

"I'm sure you're going to anyway," he sighed, inclining his head for her to continue.

Lucy bit her lip a moment before attempting to stand. He thought that was a really stupid idea but she somehow managed to stand up, swaying on her feet as she considered her next move. She didn't seem to have any pressure on her bleeding leg. Sting was starting to think she'd simply fall over before she got the words out, but she managed to surprise him. "Why would Natsu bite me if he didn't intend to mark me?"

"W-what?" Sting exclaimed, surprised she thought she could ask him that. "How should I know? Like I said, maybe he just wanted some action."

She blushed, and he got the distinct feeling she didn't like that reason any better. "Oh, okay. I just wondered I guess. Natsu… he's never been this way before."

Sting figured she wanted a reply but apparently that wasn't the case. Without warning she pushed off the wall and turned to go, stumbling twice before she even cleared the front of the building. She took a clumsy step around the corner, and he shook his head as he literally watched her fall over on her face.

It was like watching an extremely bad show.

"Blondie you should call your friend back out," he sighed, following her around the corner. "You won't make it back to the hotel, if you can even remember where that is. Besides, you'll want to get something on that wound, right? I bet you'd hate to see it in the morning."

Even though she was lying on the ground groaning she surprised him, striking out with her good foot to plant a relatively painful attack on his shin. He grunted, hopping a little further out of her reach. For being crazy drunk, she sure had a lot of determination.

"Natsu's gonna h-hate me," she slurred, glaring at the stone ground.

"That's just the alcohol talking," Sting reasoned, shaking his head. "Come on, get up. If you can't be sick out front you can't sleep on the side of our hotel either."

She groaned, refusing to budge. "Leave me here."

"I think that's a really bad idea. We just ended a bunch of battles, I don't need you fairies showing up 'cause I let you get attacked here in the street. Get up already! I'm sure Natsu's looking for you."

"Natsu's asleep… somewhere."

 _Of course he is_. "Fine, just get spirit boy out here and get lost, blondie. Come on, it's late. I don't want to spend all night out here waiting for your ass to move."

Lucy groaned again, lifting her head to look at him over her shoulder. "I'm not calling Loke. He's just going to say he told me so."

"That's not my problem."

She sighed, rolling over to stare at the sky. Yup, she was completely drunk. Maybe she had some sense about her a few minutes ago, but it was gone now. She was too sleepy to think, and he definitely wasn't going to reason with her.

He also wasn't going to deal with the war Fairy Tail would rage if he left the drunk, half-naked girl outside by herself while she slept. Didn't she own any real clothes? He was not willing to have a fight about that.

"Look, if you get up I'll walk you to the fucking hotel," he snapped, watching her crack one eye open. He didn't really want to do that, but he also didn't feel right leaving her out there like this. She was too drunk to think anymore, and who knew what was crawling around out here at night. The last thing he felt like doing was keeping his senses perked all night to ensure the girl didn't die.

He didn't technically need to do that, but he couldn't deny that he was kind of interested in her. If Natsu wanted to mark her, he'd thought she'd jump for joy. Why did she seem so unwilling?

"You'll really, really walk me back?"

"God, if you can walk," he argued, already regretting his decision. The blonde seemed to take this as a challenge, reaching for the nearest item to help her stand. It took three tries, and once he thought she actually fell asleep, but she managed to stand up and start walking, limping on her injured leg.

 _In the wrong direction of course._ "Come on blondie, don't tell me you're that wasted. I know the Fairy Tail hotel is the other direction."

Spinning on her heel she stuck her tongue out at him, awkwardly marching the way he pointed. "I knew that."

"Yeah, I'm sure you did." Stuffing his hands in his pockets he walked beside her, reminding himself to not scream at the drunk as they walked. She was going annoyingly slow, dragging out their little journey more than he wanted.

In reality, the two guilds weren't even that far from one another tonight. The walk should've taken no more than five minutes, yet almost twenty minutes later they were on the right street but not yet at the building.

He could feel one of the veins in his head bulging. If she didn't hurry up he'd lose his patience and end up throwing her over his shoulder to carry her the rest of the way. This was way more than he bargained for.

"Thanks for walking me back," she muttered, breaking the silence as they neared the door. "Guess I should get some s-sleep. Everyone's probably out by now."

"I knew all that damn noise was you guys," he huffed, running his fingers through his hair. "Well, this is your stop blondie. Try not to get lost anymore tonight; I won't be rescuing you again."

Lucy scoffed, rolling her eyes as she grabbed the handle. "You didn't save me."

"I gave you answers."

"That's completely different," she argued, glancing at him. "And for the record, it's not blondie. It's Lucy."

Sting remained where he was until she'd managed to open the door and slip inside. Despite her annoying personality and her inability to drink and function, he found himself smirking as he turned away.

Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy Tail wizard. Yeah, she sure was something else.

* * *

 **A/n:** So I have a couple Fairy Tail stories going for unusual pairings, and we will see what happens and where the stories go. Let me know what you think of this one. My main goal with writing is to not create a copy of something everyone's already read, so that's always my personal challenge.

Don't forget to review, favorite and follow!


	2. A Dragon Slayer's Bite

Sting, despite himself, couldn't get that damn Fairy Tail mage out of his head. He'd been avoiding Rogue most of the morning, irritated that the prick could see through his not-so-convincing poker face.

Okay, maybe he didn't have Rogue's ability to look bored all the time but damn, he thought he was at least decent at hiding his emotions. All the years he'd spent by Rogue's side should've taught him something.

Then again, Rogue knew him just as long and he literally never acted like Sting.

Letting blondie go last night weighed on his mind. She was clearly drunk, her staggering steps and mild hiccups more than enough of a hint. Yet she hadn't mentioned the weird gash on her leg or the bite mark on her neck much after his little explanation.

He resisted the urge to face palm. How could Natsu overlook the topic of _mating_? Most of Fiore had to think those two were together by now with the way they acted the last couple weeks. He should've at least told his friends about the mating signs, if for no other reason than to keep him from doing something _stupid_ like this.

Oh well, he hadn't marked her properly last night. Her scent didn't change, and Sting didn't notice any scales popping up on her either. She had been holding her stomach like she was in pain, but he decided to play that off as effects of drinking too much…

Speaking of which, maybe he shouldn't be one to talk. It was barely ten and already he was sitting at the bar chugging a beer. He didn't intend to get smashed like Fairy Tail did last night, but anything to take the edge off would help.

 _Marking._ He scoffed. Why would Natsu even bother at a time like this? Fairy Tail was coming off their high of winning, couldn't he at least savor the moment. Then again, maybe he was right all along and he just wanted to score with the blonde last night…

Sting felt a headache coming on. He was thinking way too much about that pathetic girl and damn, did he need another drink.

Still, he'd only heard rumors about dragon slayers failing to mark a mate. Typically the bite was only placed if the slayer truly believed they could partner with this person forever. Flings were one thing, and Sting was careful to not leave any lasting marks on the girls he slept with. Doing so could result in a mark, and if their feelings intensified with the bite still there it would strengthen their connection, forming an unbreakable. He'd never met anyone he was willing to so fully commit himself to, and he didn't really want to start now.

Maybe Natsu didn't properly mark the girl because he wasn't certain he could see a future with her.

He groaned when Yukino sat down in front of him, her silver hair shining in the daylight. She smiled widely, resting her hands beneath her jaw as she studied him. "So Sting?"

"Aw hell, now what?"

She laughed, pausing momentarily to cover her mouth at the sound. "Well, I was just wondering, what exactly did you and Lucy do last night, Stingy?"

He eyebrow twitched before he slammed his drink down on the counter, ignoring Yukino's bemused expression. "Rouge!"

"She wanted to know," the shadow slayer replied, coming up to Sting's other side. " _We_ weren't drunk last night. Even Yukino could hear parts of your conversation through the wall."

"Poor Lucy must have such a handover this morning," she mused, eyes fixated away from the pair. "She had to be seriously drunk to be giving you nicknames."

"It's _not_ a nickname."

Yukino smiled, eyes closing as she faced him fully again. "Well, Frosch thought it was. I do have to say though, Lector thought it was kind of demeaning."

"No one's ever calling me that again," Sting snapped, glaring at her. "The fairy is gone by now, we won't be seeing her again before they head back to Magnolia. Anyway, we won't be here after tomorrow. It's time we get back to the guild hall. There are a lot of changes we need to make."

She nodded, glancing over towards the back of the room. Minerva took residence at one of the back booths in the place, looking deeply into whatever drink she'd decided on. No one would dare go up to her right now, even Sting. She seemed completely lost with the way things had gone.

At least she didn't want to challenge him for the title of guild master or something. Sting loved to fight, but he was slightly afraid of what _milady_ might do.

"Hopefully whatever argument she is having with Natsu will be resolved soon," Yukino continued, smiling softly. "Rogue said she sounded pretty lost last night."

"I didn't say that," Rogue muttered, his gaze fixed on the bottles on the back of the bar wall. "I said she asked Sting a question."

His eyebrows shot up again. "And you took that as she's lost? Look, she just wanted to know about the damn mating mark."

Yukino's expression softened, glancing down at the tabletop. "Yes, that part I got. I hope they resolve the issue quickly. Why didn't you tell her Natsu might feel like he has to mark her now that he failed once?"

"Are you kidding me? Blondie's outspoken, she'll get the point across. And if not, she can call out that tiger spirit of hers again."

Immediately she straightened up, smacking him directly in the side of the head. Master or not, there were some things Sting needed smacked into his head. "Leo the Lion is the leader of the zodiacs! How could you disrespect him by calling him a _tiger_?"

Sting blanched, looking to Rogue for help. Apparently the shadow slayer knew when to bow out, and he unfortunately found his bar stool vacated.

What a damn coward.

Facing the raging celestial mage again, he held up his hands. "Look Yukino, I didn't mean to offend-"

"Of course you offended! I specifically told you just the other day that the leader of the zodiacs is a _lion named Leo_ who sometimes goes by Loke! How could you not remember that? You wouldn't stop making fun of all the 'L'-names…"

Sting groaned, leaning down into the bar. If this was how the rest of his day was doomed to go, he almost wished blondie would come back. At least she was fun to pick on.

* * *

"Where did you get off to last night?" Levy asked, sitting beside Lucy at a table. The girl looked pretty good despite trying to chug with Cana last night, but several sections of her blue hair were sticking out at odd ends. "I thought you and Natsu ran off at some point screaming about a park… but you came back alone."

Lucy tried looking away from Levy, knowing she was going to dig around for answers. She'd already drawn attention when she showed up downstairs with a bandage around her calf, telling Wendy she really didn't need to waste the energy to heal it. Apparently more people than she realized noticed her little disappearing act with Natsu last night. Levy was the third person to confront her, right after Mirajane and Cana.

She had wrongly assumed all her guild mates had passed out at the late hour, or were simply too wasted to notice her lonesome arrival. Unfortunately Cana and Bacchus were still wide awake and drinking, albeit making a huge mess as they did so. Both of them saw her arrive late, as did Gajeel and Master Mavis. Of course people gossiped, and now she was getting plenty of looks.

At least she had long enough hair to conceal the mark on her neck for now. Getting it healed was the best option, but she couldn't do it in front of the entire guild without a bunch of questions popping up. And the absolute last thing she wanted to do was answer them.

"Oh, we just went running in the streets. We found a park and crashed there for a while," she replied, trying to brush off the question. The entire place saw her leave with Natsu, so there was no denying that they were out together.

"Mhmm," Levy replied, looking unconvinced. "And your leg?"

She blushed a little, not having to completely lie here. "I brought that bottle I was drinking with me and stuffed it in the grass. We were running around and I tripped over it, making it break. A little bit stuck in my leg."

Well, it was sort of the truth. She didn't include that the bottle actually got crushed when Natsu jumped her, and the only time they ran was when she darted away from him.

The Dragon Slayer in question had yet to appear this morning. Lucy thought he would pop in all smiley like normal, but so far nothing. Maybe she hurt his feelings when she ran off, but it couldn't be helped. After talking to Sting about all this so-called mating bullshit, she didn't want to feel all that bad about denying him.

Mating. That was way more of a commitment than she was willing to give anytime soon.

Pausing briefly, she thought of the White Dragon Slayer she met last night. His entire persona was different from what she experienced during the games, and she was surprised he could show even a smidge of compassion. After all, he wasn't duty bound to tell her what Natsu almost did.

Maybe this was better. She wouldn't run into Sting again for a while, and his basic explanation more than drove the point home. Having to ask Gajeel or Wendy about Natsu's strange behavior would be even more awkward. At least she wouldn't have to face the man who bluntly told her Natsu wanted to _mate_ with her anytime soon.

Levy stopped trying to eat, leaning a little bit across the table. "And what about Sting?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

Blanching, Lucy gave her a wide eyed stare. "H-how did you know he was here?"

"Gajeel could hear you two talking outside," she replied, shrugging. "Why did he save you, and from what?"

"He didn't actually save me," she muttered, resting her head on her hand. Great, just great. What else could make this conversation uncomfortable? "He just happened to show up out of the blue… and he kind of gave me a lecture."

"Kind of?"

She blushed, unsure how to keep talking without giving away the fight she had with Natsu last night. "Yeah, just dragon stuff. You know, the usual."

Levy didn't seem deterred, huffing before she continued. "Then where was Natsu? I always thought he was the one you would ask about dragon business. Did you ditch him?"

"Not exactly."

"What then?"

Lucy forced herself to not flinch, trying to reason with herself that no one knew what Natsu almost did last night, so long as she skated around the topic during conversation no one would know. It was way too embarrassing and uncomfortable to bring up.

Glancing around the guild, she really wondered if she could corner Gajeel for an explanation. She didn't know how to face Natsu right now without getting in his face and being upset over what he tried to do. It's not like he ever bothered to mention it to her before, even in conversation. Didn't he think this was an important topic to breech if he intended on doing… that to her at some point?

Her eyebrows drew together, thinking about Sting again. She didn't want him to be right about something. Natsu was caring and sweet in his own way and so far as she could tell he'd never taken a physical interest in her before, despite the amount of times he'd caught her naked. If he wanted something from her, it had to be more than sex.

Right?

Finding Sting again would be impossible, not before they set out back to Magnolia. She wasn't familiar where Sabertooth's guild hall was, but she assumed it wasn't anywhere near her home.

Asking him would be embarrassing anyway. Last night she was drunk and at least had an excuse for her behavior, but now she was sober and he'd poke way too much fun at her if he found out she still couldn't get her guild mates to tell her the truth.

Gajeel seemed like the best option here since Wendy didn't even seem interested in boys yet, and Natsu was the problem. Still, how would she casually ask the question?

"Uh, Lu?"

Lucy snapped out of her thoughts, realizing she'd left Levy hanging. She should've given her something to work with, but so far she didn't know how to answer her friend's thoughts.

Leaning closer to her friend, she hoped all those times they bonded over books really meant something. "Can you keep a secret?"

Levy's eyes sparkled, leaning in closer as well as she pushed the book away. "Of course! I knew something happened between you and Natsu last night, no wonder you wanted to slip away! Come on, tell me the details!"

Fighting the urge to correct Levy she quietly launched into her story, keeping her voice down enough so the groggy guild members around her wouldn't notice. By the time she finished Levy looked completely floored, her eyes glancing towards Gajeel the entire time.

"He… he really never told you about the mating ritual?" she asked awkwardly, rubbing her head. Her cheeks were a faint pink, highlighting her embarrassment.

"No! You would think this would've come up at some point some time. Aside from Igneel, there are very few things Natsu won't talk about now that Lisanna's back. Is it typical to just not ever mention this until you jump your friends? I want to ask Gajeel, maybe he'll be able to shed some light for me. Do you think he knows?"

Levy's blush deepened, her eyes looking anywhere but Lucy's face. The blonde felt her jaw drop, staring at her friend with wide eyes.

"He already told you about it, didn't he?"

"He's infuriating!" Levy hissed, keeping her voice low. Despite her sudden anger her eyes were sparkling, like she found this challenge enjoyable. "He kept asking me all these riddles about dragon slayers to remind me of all the things I didn't know. One day I did some research of my own and I sort've found the mating signs in there… talk about an awkward conversation."

Lucy bristled, eyes widening. "So you know about these? Why didn't anyone tell me!"

"Shh, Lu, keep your voice down," Levy warned, glancing around. "Look, you don't have to talk to Gajeel or Natsu… or Sting. I think I can help explain it a little."

"Fine, enlighten me. Why wouldn't Natsu tell me about it?"

"All dragon slayers know the rules for mating," she advised, rubbing her head. "But just because they know doesn't mean they act on it. Natsu… you've seen how he is. He hardly responds to women most of the time. Gajeel is at least aware of the affects he has on people, and I'm sure Sting is even more so. Once they reach an age where they tap into sexuality they look for a mate that will be by their side for the remainder of their lives. It can only be done with one person."

"So… they can only sleep with one person?" Lucy asked, blanching. That seemed like a huge commitment, especially if they somehow chose the wrong person and ended up in a loveless union.

"No… that's not quite it. Look, I don't understand everything because I'm not a slayer. They inherit their instincts directly from dragons, and thus they have the same primal need to protect and claim the person they love above anyone else. Gajeel said unless a dragon slayer displays these actions in front of you and you feel a connection… you're not mates. So long as they don't leave a mating mark on your neck or try to claim you, they can sleep with other people. But Gajeel said they have a limited time to find their mate. As they get older, the desire to find one grows stronger. If a slayer cannot find someone to remain by their side throughout life, sometimes they can die from the lack of companionship. Dragons were always solitaire creatures, save for their mates. As they age, they need the connection."

Lucy blinked, trying to process what Levy said. What Natsu did last night didn't exactly add up to what she was saying. He didn't try to claim her, and even when he did bite her she didn't suddenly feel different. Nothing changed actually, except the fact that she was bleeding.

There was no way to deny the pair had a connection, but over the years Lucy came to realize it was more of a sibling relationship than anything. At one point she thought she fancied Natsu, but there were simply too many differences between them and too many things about his habits that irked her. He might be one of her best friends, but she didn't feel connected to him.

They'd never even had a proper kiss. Even last night when he tried claiming her, she didn't get tingles of joy over his predatory gaze or his sudden interest. He didn't even come after her when she ran, and Natsu always came to find her when she was sad or hurt. Usually he wasn't the reason for that, but part of her told her if they were meant to be mates he would feel a desire to come find her.

Lucy laid her head down on the table, unable to look at Levy anymore. It was too much information to absorb, and she didn't know how to exactly compare it to his actions.

Closing her eyes, her mind drifted back to the infuriating slayer she spoke with yesterday. No matter how annoying he was, he proved to be a better source of information than Natsu at any point. Speaking to any slayer right now seemed daunting, but her mind was a muddled mess.

What was she supposed to do now?

* * *

Before leaving Crocus Levy begged Lucy to go with her one final time to the biggest book store in the city. Really, this place was an absolute treasure and Lucy didn't mind going with at all.

Besides, Natsu didn't show his face even by early afternoon at the hotel and she was tired of waiting around for him to show up. Waiting only made the nerves in her stomach clench, and staying so tense until he decided to arrive from wherever wasn't good for her health. Following Levy seemed like a lot more fun, and hopefully she'd be able to distract herself for a while.

Gray was no help this morning while she waited, sitting down at the table she shared with Levy and demanding to know where exactly she ran off to. Juvia was somewhere off behind him, partially scowling as her beloved asked all about Lucy's night. She managed to dodge the questions pretty well, not quite ready to announce to the entire guild that she not only ran into Sting but actually had a civil talk with him.

And really, she needed to have a face to face talk with Natsu before rumors started. The whole idea caused her stomach to twist into knots, but it couldn't be helped. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

Erza was not around this morning, the only small blessing she had in a morning full of questions. She had a sneaking suspicion her scarlet haired friend snuck off to say goodbye to Jellal before he disappeared again, and Lucy couldn't really blame her.

Searching the bookstore now, she tried to focus on books that had anything to do with astronomy or celestial spirits. After all, she was always looking to improve and better her team.

"Lucy!" someone cried, causing the blonde to jump and turn. Yukino was running up to her, a couple books of her own pressed into her chest. Smiling Lucy turned and embraced the other celestial mage, thankful she got to meet another who was so skilled in her craft.

"Oh, Yukino! Good to see you," she beamed, studying the other female. Behind the mage she could see the Twin Dragon Slayers meandering around the store, Rogue actually looking at some of the books and Sting attempting to flirt with the busty cashier up front.

How typical.

"With our old master gone, Sting's allowing everyone a week break before we converge back at Sabertooth," she explained, setting her books aside. The blond man in question wasn't paying them any mind, busy grinning at the cashier up front who was practically eating him up. "Since he's the new guild master-"

" _What_?" she shrieked, momentarily distracted. Sting had his good marks last night, but he was still a massive jerk. The other wizards in the store briefly glanced at her, wondering what suddenly got her so upset. "I-I mean… how?"

"Well, he defeated Master Jiemma and he let me rejoin the guild," Yukino replied, grinning widely. "Jiemma didn't believe in breaks, so this is a real treat. If you want my opinion I think he's still scrambling to figure out how to actually lead a guild."

"I can hear you Yukino!" Sting snapped, spinning around at the front. He pushed off the counter, marching up to the two celestials. "And that isn't true! I'm well aware of how to basically run a guild. You know, jobs and such. It's just the… details I need to look into."

"Like how to repay whole towns when team members destroy the place?" Lucy asked, winking at her counterpart. Sting sputtered, clearing annoyed that the pair was ganging up on him.

"We're not nearly as destructive as you fairies are," he snapped, crossing his arms. An evil smirk danced across his features, his bright blue eyes shifting to the blonde. "How's Natsu by the way?"

Lucy stiffened, noting how interested Yukino suddenly seemed. For someone who didn't even see her last night, she sure was attentive to the conversation. "I don't really think that's any of your business?"

He smirked, tilting his head a little as he looked at the covered skin of her neck. "Seen any scales yet?"

"O-okay," Yukino said awkwardly, slipping out from between the two. "I-I'm just going to see if Rogue needs anything. Oh, Rogue!"

She slipped between the bookcases, leaving the two blonds alone. From where they were standing Lucy couldn't see her bluenette friend, but she had to be nearby eavesdropping. Obviously Yukino intended to do the same with Rogue. Even without enhanced hearing she could catch faint whispers here and there.

Sting, who could hear a whole lot better, rolled his eyes. "Yukino, you should plan ahead next time. I know you're listening."

"Just pretend we're not here!" Yukino called from behind the books, smacking something. Lucy guessed it was probably Rogue, but the books wouldn't let her confirm this.

Shaking his head Sting turned back to her, smirking once more. He leaned against the nearest shelf, watching the uneasiness in her eyes. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Don't play stupid, it doesn't suit you. The scales. Did you see any scales on your neck?"

Subconsciously Lucy reached up, ghosting her fingers over the skin there. It was smooth aside from the small puncture wounds Natsu made with his teeth. When she checked this morning the skin didn't appear any different. "No?"

"Well, Natsu really botched the job then. Guess you are in the clear, for now." His grin widened, eyes raking across her neck. "Until he tries again, of course."

"Why would he want to?" she snapped, glaring at him. "I don't think he wanted to in the first place?"

Sting frowned. "No, he had to want you. You don't just get the urge to bite someone for no god damn reason, especially if you're intending to mark them. Whether he intended it to go that far or not isn't the point. He tried, and I'm sure he'll try again soon enough."

Lucy scowled, dropping her hand from her neck. "Well, you shouldn't care anyway! What Natsu and I do is none of your business."

"Never said it was, fairy," he replied grinning. He turned from her, throwing up one arm behind him to wave. "You ever get tired of not getting answers, come find me in Sabertooth beautiful."

She gaped, watching a somewhat surprised Yukino and a stoic Rogue appear from behind the shelves as he disappeared out the door. The pair only hesitated a moment before following, Yukino sending Lucy a confused glance as they left. Evidently she didn't understand Sting's actions any more than the blonde did.

Standing there in the bookshop, she felt her blood boil. He couldn't just talk to her like that! And Natsu couldn't just ignore her without an explanation. Stuffing her books up on a shelf she left the store, ignoring Levy's questioning tone as she departed.

Lucy didn't stop. She had to find Natsu, right now. One way or another he was going to explain.

 **A/n:** Let me know your thoughts.


	3. Not My Mate

"Natsu!" Lucy roared, kicking open the hotel door. Most of the guild was gone by now, but there were still enough members left for a noisy room to dissolve into silence in mere moments.

For his part, Natsu at least looked sheepish as he glanced up from a fight with Gray, an uncomfortable smile dancing over his face. "H…hey Luce."

"Don't 'hey' me," she cried, stomping into the building. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw Gajeel laughing, but couldn't be sure over the blood roaring in her ears. Gray immediately stopped fighting and backed up, looking perplexed.

"Uh, you okay Lucy?"

"Oh, I'm about to be," she replied, grabbing Natsu's scarf. For it being one of his most prized possessions, he didn't even try to stop her from tugging. "You, me, outside, now!"

Lucy didn't even bother meeting the eyes of her guild mates as she dragged the slayer back out of the inn, shooting Levy a glance as the bluenette sat down beside Gajeel. He was still laughing like mad, the mutters following them as she dragged him out of the guild confirming her suspicions.

Yup, there would be gossip. As if last night wasn't tragic enough. And Gajeel totally knew what they were going to talk about.

Great.

She didn't have to drag him very far, the embarrassed salmon haired man letting her direct him around the streets until she found a bench on a not-so-busy avenue.

The perfect place for yelling.

"Why did Sting say I'm gonna grow scales?" she snapped, losing her cool. In hindsight it probably wasn't the best starter to the conversation but hey, it got the ball rolling.

Her words snapped Natsu out of his stupor, and he blinked his eyes a couple times before responding. "Did you just say Sting?"

"Yeah, Eucliffe? Annoying blond slayer from Sabertooth? Oh, he's the guild master now too. Did I mention that?" Lucy snapped, crossing her arms. " _H_ e's the one who told me you were trying to mark me as your mate last night! Don't you think that information should've come from someone _else_?"

Natsu blinked again, seeming to find the whole situation a little too weird. "Uh… when did you two have time to talk?"

"After you tried to bite me! It's not like I just sat around and waited for someone to come looking. Loke made sure I didn't get hurt, and I ended up outside the Sabertooth inn so he came out and we talked and – nevermind, I digress. Why didn't you tell me about all this mating crap, Natsu? You're my best friend! If this is a weird dragon slayer side-effect thing I think I have a right to know!"

"Of course you do, Luce," he reasoned, rubbing the back of his head. She half expected a fight out of him, but so far all his responses were seriously lacking any kick. "I… I meant to tell you…"

"Geez, all the times we were walking for days you never thought to bring it up? Natsu, if this was going to be a problem you should've been up front with me from the start instead of attacking me-"

"I know," he cut in, falling back on the bench. Reaching up he gripped his hair, pulling at the pink tresses. "I know. God, Luce, I've felt like shit since then! I tried to find you last night but I couldn't. I didn't even know what to say…"

"How about 'hey, I think I'm going to bite you now to see if we can be mates'! That would've really gotten things moving."

He scowled. "It's not that easy, Luce. You don't just go around explaining these things to just anyone." Narrowing his eyes he glanced up at her. "You say Sting told you all of this?"

"Well, yeah. He seemed to think it was funny to tell me all the things you didn't."

Natsu tensed, pursing his lips like he wanted to say something. For a moment she thought he would, but he deflected and stared at the ground for many seconds, gathering his courage. "You don't just go around talking about mating habits or rituals… it's like going around talking about how sex works."

Lucy blushed, surprised by her teammate. Natsu wasn't renowned for being tactful, but he wasn't crass. He'd definitely seen her naked enough times for her to know that. In fact, she didn't think she'd ever actually heard him say the word _sex_ before.

"Levy already gave me a rundown," she grumbled, holding up a hand. "I get it, it's your one true person you mate with for life, yada yada yada. What I don't get is why everyone else had to tell me!"

Momentarily Natsu grew distracted, smirking off into the distance. "Levy, huh? Guess Gajeel finally decided to talk to her-"

"Actually he made her read a book to find out. He refused to be straightforward."

"Oh, that sounds more like him," Natsu agreed, sobering once more. "Then he knew she had to be his mate. He should. All the signs are there-"

"Signs?" she asked, sitting on the bench beside him. "What signs?"

"Uh, well, you aren't a slayer so you really wouldn't notice. But he's more protective of her, he cares for her in like a weirdo, and their scents are starting to intertwine from being close together. They also have a connection, at least that's what you say-"

"So you _do_ listen to me," she gushed, clasping her hands together. "I wasn't sure you even heard me half the time."

"'Course I listen Luce, I love being with you," he replied, adverting his gaze. "So I thought, last night when we were… drunk, and I wanted to spend all this time with you… I thought it was the mating call I was looking for."

Lucy's eyes widened as he turned, brushing her hair off behind her shoulder to have a look at the spot he bit. Just as Sting said, there were no scales highlighting the juncture of her neck and shoulder, and Natsu's teeth left very small marks. Even with the wind it wasn't hard to keep the marks out of sight.

Still, he looked crushed staring at her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

Reaching up, she gently removed his fingers from their spot on her skin, needing some sort of distance between them. He didn't argue, letting his hand fall in the space between them. "I don't understand why, Natsu. Why didn't you tell me? And why did you _try-_ "

"I don't know," he answered cutting her off. Standing from the bench he began to pace, running agitated fingers through his hair. "I-I'm not sure _who_ my mate is. Last night I thought it could be you, but I hesitated and the mark is more of a bruise now."

Lucy shuddered, reaching up to her neck. It was slightly off-color this morning, but she hadn't considered it a bruise yet. Even Sting didn't bring that part up. "Natsu-"

"I'm just confused," he continued, steering the conversation in the wrong direction. "I've never even wanted to _do_ that before. But you… you smelled _so good_ Luce, and we were having fun, I just thought maybe it would be okay."

" _What_ would be okay?" she snapped, crossing her arms again. "Just spit it out. You owe me an explanation. And I want to know why Sting says you didn't even do it _right_."

"Because I didn't do it right," he sighed, staring towards the concrete. "I just drew blood, and I'm sorry about that. I didn't actually leave the mark. I pulled back too quickly when I realized you were scared. For the marking to work I'd have to leave an impression of my magic on you. It's different than a lingering smell from being around someone. Like I can _smell_ Sting's scent on you, but it's no different than Levy's smell sticking to you or anyone else. The bite is supposed to warn other slayers that you are presently taken. I… I didn't think you'd like that, and I got scared, so I pulled back too soon."

Lucy nodded, adverting her gaze a moment. He was doing a pretty good job only explaining half of what she wanted to know right now. "Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Sting… he said you would try to bite me again."

Snorting, Natsu lifted his gaze up to meet hers again. "He told you a lot of stuff, huh?"

"Well, him and Levy."

"Yeah," he grumbled, falling down on the bench again. "I'm surprised he told you so much. Igneel always taught me that you only reveal these things to your mate. I hadn't told you because I wasn't sure. This is a huge secret, something that could be used against a dragon slayer if word got around. Maybe Weisslogia didn't get to tell him everything. Igneel made the mating rituals sound sacred. He shouldn't be telling you anything unless he thinks he's your mate."

Lucy sputtered, practically flying off the bench at the implication. "What? No! He was just making fun of you! He doesn't-no. It's not like that. Sting can't stand me, or anyone in Fairy Tail."

Natsu nodded, seeming to agree with her answer. "Yeah. It would be weird if you were together anyways. And he doesn't even know you! You don't just run across someone and think they are your mate. It takes a relationship, even platonic, and trust between both parties… plus similar likes-"

"So, for you it would be Lisanna?" Lucy asked, cutting him off. His eyebrows shot up, a blush streaking across his cheeks as she started laughing. "Oh, I think I'm right!"

"I-it's not like that-"

"I think it is," she replied mischievously, the pieces falling into place. "I think you believe _she's_ your mate. You two definitely have a background together. Plus you spend a lot of time together recently. You didn't see the daggers she shot my way last night when we left, talk about jealous! It would explain why you hesitated too. I'm not stupid Natsu, I've always noticed the building tension between Lisanna and myself regarding you. Even if she doesn't speak up about it, she wants you." She paused for a second, a soft smile slipping on her lips. "You should be talking to her about this."

Natsu blinked, looking totally confused. "I… you're not mad?"

"Oh trust me, I'll get you back for this," she reasoned, eyes twinkling as she spoke. "And I really wish Sting didn't have to be the one to tell me, but I guess I can _try_ to forgive you if you go be straightforward with Lisanna. If I was really your mate, I don't think you would've stopped. It sounds primal. You would've left the mark either way. But your hesitation makes me believe Lisanna is really your mate, or at least a better contender. You haven't actually tried talking to her, have you? Who knows… maybe it would work with her. You guys do have a longer history than us."

He was quiet for a moment, contemplating her words. "You're my best friend, Luce. I was terrified last night messed things up between us. You… you promise you're not mad?"

She quieted a moment, thinking how out of character Natsu was being. For him to be so nervous and uncertain of her reaction meant he really cared for her and told her how heavily this dispute weighed on his shoulders. "You're not going to be overridden by dragon senses and bite me again, are you?"

His eyes flashed, taking in her words. "No. I should never have had as little control as I did last night. I hurt you."

"You didn't-"

"Luce," he stressed, running fingers through his hair. "I could smell the blood when you ran off. Later when I woke up I found the bottle and realized I pushed you onto it. God, I'm sorry about that."

"You're already forgiven," she replied, waving a hand. "I'll ask Wendy to heal it later since you already knew. Now, quit stalling Natsu. Are you going to tell Lisanna about this? And you better use more control with her! If she doesn't rip you a new one for trying to pounce her I'm sure Elfman and Mirajane will."

Natsu shuddered, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'll have to. I'm sure she'd take me out way before either of them could. Besides, if I act like too much of a dork she'll just make fun of me."

"I was pretty close to doing that too," Lucy admitted, winking. "But please, tell her sooner than later. If your dragon senses are going to be all over until that's done I'd rather get it over with quickly."

"I won't do it again, Luce," he promised, crossing his arms. "This whole time we've been talking I haven't felt the urge to bite you again. Sting may have told you I would try again, but only if the urge was there. Without my senses being impaired I have more than enough self control."

She blushed, glancing away. "Does that mean you've been thinking about, um, trying again?"

He shrugged, looking off down the road. "Hearing you talk about Sting so much is kind of killing it. Number one turn-off for a slayer is to hear you talk about another. Now if I had _actually_ marked you, it would just piss me off."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Well, thank God that didn't happen."

"Luce?" he asked, seeming to think his words over. "Did Sting really tell you all that stuff because he wanted to get back at me."

She paused, looking confused by the question. "Of course. I know you were just joking earlier when you said he could be my mate. We don't even really have a history together so it wouldn't work anyway."

Natsu nodded, thinking over her words. He seemed thoughtful, tilting his head to one side. "You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Now quit stalling and go talk to Lisanna!"

Defeated he seemed to relent, standing up from the bench. Casting one last look her way he turned, waving over his shoulder as he ran off. "Yeah, yeah. I get the point!"

* * *

Watching the guild clear out of the inn wasn't as interesting as Sting hoped. At least no one left a mess that cost the guild extra money but damn, some of his guild mates were slow.

And he needed to wait and make sure things were in order before heading out. With all the upset he wasn't entirely sure how the guild would cope. He sent Rogue on ahead with Yukino to wait at the guild hall, knowing they would have a bunch to change. At least anyone who wanted to complain would have someone to talk to.

As he finished paying the tab, Sting found his thoughts wandering to blondie again. He thought it was funny not so long ago when she got tortured by Flare and Minerva, so he was a hypocrite for being annoyed that Natsu tried biting her.

Seriously, the guy could destroy pretty much anything. If he actually meant to cause damage he would.

And if he intended to mark Lucy, Sting was certain he wouldn't have failed.

Shaking his head, he tried to rid himself of thinking about the pair anymore. He had no intentions of traveling to Magnolia anytime soon, so the possibility of seeing Lucy again was low. He had a guild to run now and he needed to be focused on that, not some blonde girl from a separate guild who disappeared for seven years.

Exiting the inn he let his feet leisurely carry him around Crocus, in no hurry to actually get anywhere. He wasn't expected until tomorrow, having told Rogue he intended to have one night to himself. A lot of the guild members were taking their time returning home, so he should have at least that long to get his bearings.

Running a guild was a lot more work than he thought it would be. Blondie sent all his excellent dreams crashing down when she mentioned that earlier. Stupid, organized blonde-

He paused, sensing the girl moments before she rounded the corner. Sting didn't spend a lot of time with Lucy but the few moments he got with her gave him some familiarity with her scent. She appeared startled, like she hadn't expected to run into him.

"Oh… hi."

Sting rolled his eyes, wondering what she was still doing hanging around Crocus. Everyone was supposed to be heading home now that the games were over. "Running from Natsu again? I can smell his scent on you."

She huffed, immediately losing her uncertainty. "For your information _no_ , I'm not. We sorted things out actually."

"Really? Well you don't smell any different, so I sincerely doubt you've resolved the issue."

"I'm not his mate," she replied, placing one hand to her chest. "We had a talk about it, and I realized his mate is probably someone he has a _stronger_ connection to. If he knows what's good for him he's off telling her right now."

"You mean if he knows what's good for you," Sting argued, raising an eyebrow. "Unless he finds a more suitable mate, or even the _perfect_ one, he's just going to keep coming back for you because you're the first one he went for. You'll lure him in until he finds someone to sate his lust."

Lucy blushed, the red highlight in her cheeks nearly blinding him. "Stop it! Nothing is going to happen that way because I'm certain Lisanna is his mate."

Sting surfed through the names of familiar fairies, but Lisanna was not someone he could remember. "If you're sure, you just better hope some part of him doesn't still desire you or he'll come back. Until the mating is actually completed simply marking someone won't stop his desires if they are there."

She twitched, and he could tell he was getting under her skin. Good, he would hate for their conversations to get boring.

"Natsu said you only explain mating rituals to the person you think might be your mate."

Sting scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Don't go getting any ideas. Just because Natsu decided to look for someone better doesn't mean I'm interested. I don't know what bullshit he told you, but Weisslogia never said anything about only talking to your mate about it. Maybe it was implied, who knows. The only reason we ever talked in the first place is because Natsu messed up."

"You didn't owe me an explanation," she said quietly, crossing her arms. "You didn't even have to help me back to my hotel last night. You could've left me outside."

"There are so many reasons why I couldn't do that," he grunted, looking away.

"The mark hasn't even faded yet," she continued, talking like they were friends. "I thought it would go away, like how easily I redirected Natsu's feelings to someone who loves him, but it's still there."

Sting arched an eyebrow, intrigued. Without warning he leaned forward, brushing her hair off her shoulder. Just like earlier, it was a small, discolored bruise with the small telltale signs of bite marks.

"It is a mark," he replied, dropping her hair again. Why did he keep touching her? He never really had that desire before. "It will fade with time, just like Natsu's fickle feelings."

"They aren't fickle," she sighed, reaching up to hug herself. "But they also aren't something I know I can re-cooperate. You both said this mating thing is for life. If I'm not sure then I can't keep him waiting on me to decide, and I definitely can't have him trying to bite me again when I have no idea how I feel." She laughed, and Sting immediately tensed when he thought she might cry. "I can't even tell if we were actually meant to be mates."

Shrugging, he tried to lighten the mood. Anything to keep the damn girl from crying. "You would know, trust me. Both of you. Natsu's probably just thinking with the wrong head. If you actually were meant to be his mate, things would've worked out. The mark shouldn't be so discolored."

Lucy nodded, mulling over his words. "I thought you said you wouldn't answer any more of my questions unless I followed you to Sabertooth."

He laughed. "You took that seriously?"

"No! I just figured you wouldn't want to talk about this anymore. I mean… we aren't mates – hell, we aren't even friends." Her shoulders drooped again, eyes slipping down to the ground. "I don't think I'm really meant to be anyone's mate at this rate."

"I'm sure you'll find someone who can stand you eventually," he replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "If anything, you've got a great body, someone's going to pick you up."

"I don't want to be picked up!" she squealed, hands clenching into fists. "I already know what I want in a guy. Someday he's bound to show up."

Scoffing, Sting turned away. "Fine blondie, keep being optimistic. Now run on back to Fairy Tail. I've got my own problems to deal with."

He half expected the nosy girl to continue asking questions but he was met with silence. Instead of pushing his luck he turned away, forcing himself to leave the girl alone. Just because she was interesting didn't make her worth his while. He had a million things to figure out tomorrow and being distracted wouldn't help.

She wasn't Natsu's mate, and by the sound of it he'd be paired off soon enough. One ridiculous problem solved.

Still, he couldn't quite ignore the strange pull in his stomach, like he wanted to keep talking to her. Stopping at the end of the street he paused, glancing back despite himself. She was still standing in the same place, watching him go. From the looks of it, she couldn't quite figure out why she couldn't stop watching him either.

Strange. He'd never felt a pull like that before.

 **A/n:** So, I'm just incredibly slow at updating this. However, I'm hoping to not take as long next time around (I say that a lot, huh?) because other than getting married in October I don't have any other large commitments in th next few months, so here's hoping I can update more often!


	4. A Job for Me

It wasn't a lot of fun being the third wheel.

It was even less enjoyable when one half of the wheel couldn't stand you.

Sure, Lucy understood why Lisanna seemed so worried and standoffish about everything – _especially after learning Natsu not so delicately told the poor girl that he tried marking Lucy as his mate first –_ but it didn't erase the semi-crazed look the woman shot her way whenever she entered the guild. Really, everyone knew what was going on with those two, but did Lisanna have to make it so obvious that there was tension whenever Lucy arrived?

And to make it just a little bit worse, Mira was meddling. Sweet as she was, she seemed hell-bent on finding Lucy someone to date now that Natsu was pretty much off the market. Lucy once tried asking Mira why she was so upset that Natsu chose _her sister_ instead of the celestial mage, and it was not a mistake she would be making again. She never wanted to hear so many complex explanations about match-making to begin with, and she'd die before she had to sit through the speech again.

Glancing up from her drink now, she eyed the couple on the other side of the room. They were laughing, Lisanna seeming to have eased into whatever conversation they were having instead of being worried about Lucy. She wasn't exactly hostile towards the blonde, but her unease could be felt a mile away.

She tried smiling at the couple, but it just wouldn't come. Natsu eagerly ran off to the white-haired beauty per her suggestion, but it left her feeling a little discarded. They were together later that day for crying out loud! There was no feasible way she could be Natsu's mate now, not when he so easily pushed her to the side for someone else.

They weren't mates to begin with, but that didn't make it sting any less.

Speaking of which…

Lucy groaned, dropping her head to the table. They'd been back in Magnolia for nearly two weeks, finally basking in the glory of their win. It'd been two weeks since she saw that arrogant prick Sting, and it didn't feel long enough.

Try as she might, she just couldn't get him out of her head. His actions, his antics, the bizarre way they said goodbye…

He was confusing. Annoying, but confusing. At least he was some sort of puzzle. With Natsu, she'd only ever felt the annoyed part.

Was she trying to compare them now?

"If you keep moping around like that Cana's going to come over here and bug you," Levy remarked, not convincing Lucy to lift her head. "She's been watching your jealously brew the past two weeks."

"I'm not jealous!" she hissed, jerking up. Her eyes darted around, looking for Gajeel. Thankfully he wasn't around, and she couldn't at least talk to her friend in semi-privacy without all her nosy friends. Natsu seemed too distracted anyways to care.

"M-hmm," Levy muttered, dropping her gaze back to the book with a coy smile. Lucy spilled everything to her about her last day in Crocus two weeks prior, and since then Levy liked to drop subtle hints about her opinions.

Lucy didn't agree with most of them. She certainly wasn't jealous of Natsu's new relationship, but she was a little upset that he didn't seem to even think of her now that his time was taken up by Lisanna. There definitely weren't any mixed feelings between those two.

"I think there's a pretty, arrogant blond dragon slayer a couple towns over that could make you giggle that loudly."

"I tell you one stupid thing in confidence and you use it against me," she muttered, trying to drown out Lisanna's shrill laughter. Really, she didn't have to pretend every one of Natsu's lame jokes was funny. "And I don't giggle like that for anyone. Besides, we definitely don't have a connection. Did you forget how _funny_ he found it when Minerva practically killed me?"

"He was also nice enough to walk your drunk-self back to the inn when he didn't have to," Levy reminded, folding the book closed on her finger so her left was free. She pointed directly at Lucy, focusing on her over her reading glasses. "And if you so quickly forgot, I did see the two of you at that book shop. There was definitely tension between you two."

Lucy scoffed, looking away. "You've got to lay off those romance novels. Gajeel was talking about historical books on dragons, not fantasies that people wrote about them."

"I already read all of those," Levy grumbled. "I needed different reading material. Besides, this one's discreet. Unless you know the authors name you would never even know this book was about dragons."

"Better stay away from Freed then."

Levy threw part of her food at Lucy, causing the blonde to turn away again. The last thing she wanted to do right now was focus on that stupid dragon slayer. He made too many jabs at her the last time they talked, and if she wanted to get even it was hard to when it meant actually having to go find him.

Then he would think she was taking him up on that horrendous offer to go visit him at the Sabertooth guild hall. Her ego couldn't take the blow of actually going to see him and admitting she sought him out.

Why did she want to see him again?

Sighing, she looked around the room. Two weeks came and went and she had yet to go on any jobs. She'd been moping (even if she wouldn't admit it out loud) and stuck in a rut. But her rent was due soon, and if she didn't take a job she'd be looking for another place of residence.

Glancing towards Natsu, she let out a sigh. Some things had to change, including her partner. There was no way she could separate the pair right now, and it would just get the gossip groups going if she interrupted the couple just for one measly mission. There were plenty she could do on her own, and the distraction would be welcome.

"Where are you going?" Levy asked as she stood up, forcing herself away from the table. Whatever lingering feelings she had for Natsu had to be dashed. She wanted the attention more than anything else. He was never someone she looked at in a romantic way, so there was no reason to pretend now.

"I'm going on a job," she replied, forcing a smile. "I've got to continue on with my life."

Levy blinked, looking confused. "That's not exactly-"

"I'll only be gone a couple days," Lucy interrupted, grabbing the first job that caught her eye, slapping it down on the counter in front of Mira.

Levy looked skeptical, shooting a glance past Lucy's shoulder to the older girl. Trying to not find that annoying Lucy turned, immediately finding Mira's mischievous gaze. "I just want to take the job."

Leaning forward, Mira gave the blonde her best smile. "You don't want to talk about a certain… changing relationship?"

Feeling the vein in her forehead beginning to bulge, Lucy fought to control her annoyance. "I don't have anything to talk about. I just want to focus on getting my rent money."

Mira frowned, tilting her head. "But Lucy, you shouldn't just run off. I was talking to Erza and Gray earlier-"

"And everyone can wait until I'm back from my job before we talk," Lucy chirped in response, tapping the paper on the counter. "This is my job. I'm taking it. At least let the others know I left if they get worried."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but Lucy didn't give her the chance. Really, all she wanted to do was run out of there and get away from the suffocating gazes. Spinning on her heel she bolted for the door, finding she never wanted to escape Fairy Tail so much in her life.

Outside the doors, she breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone could gossip all they wanted while she was away, it would make no difference. Natsu was with the person he was meant to be with, that's what mattered. Straightening her shoulders, she marched onward towards her apartment to gather some items for her mission.

She was not jealous. Not one bit.

* * *

Thinking back, she should've read the job requirements a little bit more closely before taking the gig. All she'd cared about when looking was that the job required only one mage.

She should've checked the location too.

"Stupid Crocus," she grumbled, marching through the streets with her arms crossed. "Why does it have to be Crocus?"

The actual job wasn't all that difficult. Stop some thieves who'd been stealing from local shops, blah, blah, blah. It was too minor of a job for the royal army to handle, but almost too boring of a job for Lucy to want to handle. It would give her a chance to work on fine-tuning her combat skills, but she couldn't have picked a more exciting mission?

Or at least one that wasn't in Crocus?

It wasn't too late yet, but she knew she'd need to come back to the marketplace later on when the thieves kept striking. So far no one was threatened, and most of the items stolen were low value, it just added up to the store owners when it kept happening. Payout wouldn't be great either.

All in all, Lucy assumed it was a small group of locals or people from one of the smaller nearby towns stealing and reselling the goods. It would be no problem for a celestial mage like herself, and she almost felt like she'd placed more of a hardship on herself by taking the job. All this did was stir up more memories of what she was trying to avoid.

"Having problems, princess?"

She jumped at the sound of Virgo's voice, having not realized one of her spirits was entering the human world. The maiden smiled back, bowing with one arm. "I could sense your turmoil in the celestial world and thought you would need a friend."

Lucy smiled, unsurprised one of her most nosy spirits tapped into her emotions like that. It was just like Loke showing up a few weeks ago, only this time she wasn't in any danger.

 _You weren't in danger before either. Natsu could never truly hurt you. You saw how remorseful he was when he realized what happened._

Shaking her head, she pushed the thoughts aside. "Am I that easy to read?"

"Big brother said you were confused," the pinkette replied, walking beside the mage. "He wants to know how dumping Natsu is going."

Just like back in the guild hall, she could feel one of her veins beginning to bulge. "So you're here because Loke sent you to check on me?"

"Actually he's out on a date."

"I feel like I should be more surprised."

Virgo smiled, clasping her hands together as she walked. "He also wanted to know how things are going with Master Sting?"

"Oh god, don't call him that," she groaned, shaking her head. She wondered if Virgo even knew Sting's last name. "He's in an entirely different guild, and as Loke so kindly announced to everyone, he's now the master there. It's not like we see each other."

Nodding, she seemed to think that over. "Has the mark on your neck faded?"

Lucy reached up, brushing her fingers across the spot Natsu's mark used to be. It faded early last week. The process was slow until one day it all but evaporated in front of her eyes. She assumed that was when Natsu decided to mark Lisanna instead. As far as she knew (and really she didn't want all the details) they hadn't technically mated yet. "It's been gone for a little while now."

"I see," Virgo replied, taking in their surroundings. "We're in Crocus again, aren't we?"

"Yeah, the flowers kind of give it away, huh?"

"Are we here now to see Sting?"

"Would you cut that out?" she cried, jumping again. "I'm here on a job! I'm not here because of Sting. I didn't even realize the job was in Crocus! If I had realized I would never have taken it."

"So you wish to avoid him?"

"I'm not avoiding Sting!"

"Oi blondie, stop screaming my name so damn loud."

Lucy froze, wondering if Virgo knew he was there all along. She had a coy smile gracing her lips, and it wouldn't be all that surprising to learn she'd known before coming to talk to Lucy. Turning rigidly towards the voice, she tried to ignore the arrogant grin on his face.

Why, why did it have to be Eucliffe?

"Do you always eavesdrop?" she snapped, stomping her foot. "This is the second time!"

"Probably the third," he argued, shrugging as he pointed to his ears. "Dragon hearing, remember? Or have you forgotten since Natsu replaced you with someone else?"

Despite herself, Lucy flinched. Whether he meant them to or not, Sting's words cut deep. She was trying to run away from one ridiculous problem and somehow ended up finding herself in another one.

He seemed to notice, cocking his head to one side. "What? I thought you'd be excited he's sleeping with someone else."

"That's _not-_ "

"Oh, Lucy!"

They were interrupted as Yukino appeared almost out of nowhere, snatching up Frosch who seemed to be wandering the street aimlessly. Lucy blinked as the other celestial mage ran up, throwing her other arm around the blonde's shoulders as she held the cat. "I told Sting you would come back!"

"I… what?" she asked, looking confused. Behind Sting she could see Lector and Rogue approaching, the latter hanging back with a grin. He looked a lot more amused than the other dragon slayer.

"Fucking hell," Sting grumbled, his arrogance disappearing. He glared at Yukino like he could make her disappear. "Didn't I tell you to keep following Frosch?"

"No, you told me to-"

"You didn't exactly use those words," Rogue laughed, pausing at Sting's side. "It was a lot more colorful."

"You just wanted to dump us so you could go find Lucy," Yukino agreed, shooting her friend a smile. "Soon as he caught your scent he practically bolted over here."

"I did not!"

"He wanted to see you," she continued, winking. Removing her arm from the blonde's shoulders, she set Frosch down. "I kind of thought all the master duties had gone to his head when he said it. What are you doing in Crocus again?"

"Accidently taking a job," Lucy replied, eyeing the Sabertooth members before her before she spun on Virgo. "And you knew they were here!"

Holding up her hands, Virgo attempted to look innocent. "I only thought it would speed up the process if Master Sting-"

"- _stop calling him that_ -"

"-knew what was already going on before you two talk," she continued, speaking like Lucy hadn't. Bowing, she held out her wrists. "Punishment time?"

Whipping out her key, Lucy returned her to the spirit world, her face twisting into a scowl. " _Not today Virgo_."

When she opened her eyes again, Lucy wished she hadn't. Sting was giving her the same focused, arrogant look as before. "So, Master Sting, hmm?"

She held up a finger, dropping her voice several degrees, her tone much icier than before. "Don't get any ideas. Virgo is the only one calling you that."

"Somehow I find that hard to believe."

She tensed, debating whether or not she could get away with kicking him. Instead she tried to take the high world. Throwing him off would make her feel better anyways. "So… you came looking for me?"

"Well I have a right to be curious why you're here," he grumbled, immediately glancing away. "You took a job?"

"I do have rent to pay," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"What job?" Yukino asked, butting in again. She shot the pair a grin, crossing her arms. "Must pay pretty well to come over here."

Lucy rolled her eyes, gently pushing on Yukino's shoulder. For not seeing the girl in almost two weeks she was awfully friendly. The pair hadn't even gotten to properly spend time together since the games. While she wanted to take advantage of her current situation she didn't want to give anyone – Sting in particular – that she would be hanging around longer than needed. Digging around in her pocket she pulled out her copy of the job she'd taken. Thank god Mira always handed over a second copy for the mage to take on a job.

Yukino's eyebrows shot up the moment she saw the paper, immediately grabbing onto Sting's vest as she read it. "This is the job you just posted in the guild hall! The one _everyone_ was talking about."

He raised an eyebrow, snatching the paper away from his guild mate to see what exactly Lucy signed herself up for. She bristled a little as Rogue glanced over, the twin dragon slayers skeptically reading the request before Sting's gaze hardened, eyes snapping up to meet Lucy's.

"You can't take this job."

"I already did!" she snapped, taking the request back before they could scrutinize it anymore. "Why the hell couldn't I?"

"You don't know anything about the bandits," he argued, crossing his arms. "That same job is in our hall. I just had an argument with Orga about it. Whoever the hell posted it has no idea what they are doing. It's a three mage job minimum."

"Well, just because you Sabertooth wizards aren't as strong as Fairy Tail doesn't mean it takes three people to handle this," Lucy replied, smirking. "There aren't even supposed to be that many people who are stealing in this area. It'll be a piece of cake."

"You don't know the people here in Crocus," Rogue interrupted, his gaze focused off to the side. Lucy realized he was watching the exceeds. Lector seemed to be trying to redirect Frosch again. "The job isn't making things out accurately. There have to be at least two dozen people involved."

Lucy bristled. She'd met with the requestor earlier today and he didn't mention anything about there being more than a handful of these bandits hanging around. There was no reason for the requestor to be misleading her, especially when he was the one to be paying her. Whatever the twin slayers were going on about she wouldn't hear a word of it. She didn't train so hard just to be shot down by people she rarely saw.

"I think Lucy can handle it," Yukino defended, looping her arm through the blonde's. "I just wanted you to know it will be dangerous, more so than the posting. Our guild is close to Crocus, we've heard a lot about this. We just the job yesterday. I don't know why Fairy Tail would've received the request first unless Sting lost it."

"I did not!"

"I'm sure it'll be no big deal," Lucy agreed, turning herself and Yukino away from the pair. "Now come on! We need to catch up."

"Are you nuts?" Sting snapped, his voice echoing behind the pair. "Taking that job by yourself is a mistake!"

Waving her hand over her head Lucy replied, "I'll be fine! Why would you want to worry about me anyway?"

She took his response as a sign that he wasn't actually worried at all.

* * *

 _Alright Lucy, you can do this._

She bounded on the balls of her feet impatiently, waiting for something to happen. Supposedly there were only a couple people who were robbing the area, so whether they were male or female shouldn't matter. She could totally do this job all by herself, blow off some steam, and hopefully see Sting when she and Yukino met up in the morning and rub it in his face that she got the job done.

So long as things went off without a hitch.

Really, it shouldn't be so difficult. She'd handled worse and more dangerous things before. All she had to do was stay focused –

Lucy tensed, listening to the sound of footsteps. Well, she shouldn't have gotten so distracted with her thoughts. Crouching down on the roof she studied the surrounding area, trying to catch sight of the people around. They were supposed to be stealing from the main stores on this street –

"Hello beautiful."

She jumped, whirling around at the sound of the voice. She hadn't even heard anyone approaching and wasn't sure how someone snuck up on her on a roof. Spinning she grabbed her keys, ready to defend herself.

She wasn't expecting the man behind her. Pulling her whip from her other side she attacked first, unsure how she wanted to fight now.

"Rustyrose?"

Lucy hadn't seen the man since Tenrou Island and the years hadn't been good to him. In seven years he'd aged at least ten, and the somewhat wild look in his eyes as he dodged her wasn't what she was expecting.

"Ah, a fairy. That'll be new on the market."

"What?" she asked, drawing back the whip again. She dodged an attack, successfully putting distance between them.

That damn job description didn't say anything about mages. She hadn't been expecting to fight someone like Rustyrose who put her to shame the last time their paths crossed.

Now he had a crazed look in her eyes, something she wasn't prepared for.

"Are you with that group of bandits that's been robbing the shops here?"

"Oh, you fell for that? We haven't gotten a mage to fall for this gig in a while. Usually the guild's realize something is wrong with the request."

Lucy tensed, grabbing her keys. _Maybe Sting wasn't talking out his ass._

She jumped out of the way of an attack, missing whatever spell Rustyrose cast. "Virgo, help me out here!"

The maiden appeared before them in the dark, the shimmer of light she appeared in providing the only glimpse of Rusty she'd really gotten. He looked half mad in that moment, eyes wide and crazed.

"How can I help, princess?"

Lucy glanced around, knowing a roof wasn't quite the earth Virgo was used to drilling through. Still, she'd done stranger things before. "Take him out!"

 _Once he's beat I can figure out what's really going on. Where are the other bandits? What happened to the robbery?_

Virgo attempted attacking Rusty to knock him off the roof, but he easily dodged her movements. Spinning around, he used his Arc of Embodiment to create a collection of rocks himself, lobbing them at the maiden.

"Virgo!"

Needless to say, the spirit had to return rather quickly. Doing out of the way herself Lucy rolled, slipping towards the side of the roof.

Low building or not, she had no interest in falling.

"I thought I remembered your skills being sub-par," Rusty continued, landing not far from her. "I can't say I'm surprised though. The council will have lots of fun with you."

Scowling, Lucy glanced around. She wasn't sure what he was going on about, but she had no plans of finding out. Whatever this was, it was a set up from the beginning.

"Don't worry though doll, you'll fit in perfectly there. Now, Arc of Embodiment, net!"

From Rustyroses' hand Lucy could barely see a series of nets being shot her way. She dodged the first, careful none of her keys got tangled in the mess. He was shooting them off too quickly, and she couldn't summon a spirit without getting caught.

Jumping to avoid falling off the roof her luck failed, and one of the nets caught her ankles, growing in size and wrapping around her whole body in one fell swoop. Before Lucy registered what was happening she was hitting the roof with a thud, her keys pressed awkwardly to her abdomen.

Above her Rusty approached, sounding much smugger than before. "Oh yes, they will be quite happy with me. You'll fetch a great price."

She panicked, wondering what in the world she'd gotten herself into before her vision faded and everything went black.

 **A/n: I'm sorry for the delay in posting. If you can't guess where things are going with this story… then I may not be hinting quite hard enough haha. Don't worry, we'll see Sting soon. He might even making a smashing appearance…**

 **I'm hoping to get the next chapter up soon, but we know how well that goes. Until the next time.**


	5. A Smashing Entrance

**Author's** **warning** **: Chapter contains some descriptions of sexual abuse, and should be noted. I didn't make the theme super dark, but you have been warned.**

Lucy knew she had a knack for getting herself into ridiculous situations. Usually there was a somewhat justifiable reason to her present state of distress.

Currently, she only had herself to blame. Maybe she should've heeded Sabertooth's warning after all, but there was no going back now. Besides, she was known for following through on her words.

Right now, she wished she could eat them though. Between the throbbing pain in her head, the blood dripping down into one eye, and the fact that Rustyrose was _laughing_ at her, she wanted nothing more than to give everyone in the room a good Lucy kick to the head.

"I didn't tell you to bring me a fairy," the other man continued, pushing her away. Lucy didn't know if she should be insulted or glad that the creepy leader decided she wasn't worth his time. "You brought me a Heartfilia, not just a mage."

"You told me to collect whoever comes to the jobsite," Rusty replied, fiddling with his glasses. Despite being unconscious for the better part of her journey, Lucy had discovered that the former Kin member had some sort of unease with his position in… whatever exactly this was.

She definitely hadn't figured out much about _where_ she was yet, just that somewhere between the roof and here Rustyrose managed to bang her head on something. It was making it hard to focus.

Oh well. At least no one beat her up yet. That was a good sign.

"I didn't know you'd find someone like her there," the man snapped, glaring at the embodiment mage. Lucy dropped her gaze a moment, hands digging into the dirt outside the building. Wherever they were, they hadn't been invited inside yet, and she wondered if they even would be. She almost wished they were in the building. Her head was swimming, and her knees bled on the stone slabs they'd been pushed down upon. At least inside there was proper flooring.

"It's not like I went looking for her," he grumbled.

Lucy's eyes narrowed as something cold slipped under her chin, forcing her gaze upward. She scowled up at the nameless man as his eyes raked over her figure, refusing to acknowledge how dangerous of a situation she'd found herself in.

If Rustyrose hadn't been so smart as to take her keys away, she'd already have both of those buffoons down for the count.

"Is she intact then?" he asked, eyes lifting from her figure.

"How am I supposed to know? Get one of your goonies to figure it out. I'm not going to check _anything_."

Despite herself, Lucy couldn't help feeling a bit relieved by that. She may hate Rusty, but she didn't exactly take him for a creeper. At least if no one was _checking_ her yet, she could probably handle the situation and get away before they did something to make her skin crawl.

"Very well," the nameless man replied, dismissing Rustyrose with a wave of his hand. "You know where to go for payment. Now off with you."

Lucy didn't think too much about the dismissive gesture, her senses heightening as Rusty shifted behind her and turned to go _with her keys_ , and two rather goonish individuals appeared on either side of her newest captor.

"Come now," he said, snapping his fingers. She jumped up, ready to kick whoever she needed to and bolt, but her vision began to swim and distort as soon as she moved. She stumbled instead, feeling one of the men immediately latch roughly onto her wrists, pulling them together painfully before he gave her a rough shove into the house, the door slamming shut behind them.

She felt something slide around her wrists, and immediately her panic picked up. She didn't need to see the bands covering her wrists to know magical cuffs were placed on her, she could feel the energy radiating around her.

She should've run outside and seen how far she could go. At least then she wouldn't be stuck, getting dragged further into a house she didn't know.

"Let go of me!" she snapped, finding her voice. She'd tried speaking up when she first woke and all that got her was a painful smack in the head from what she assumed to be the leader's cane. "Who do you think you are? Let me go this instant!"

"I'm afraid we won't be doing that doll face," the main man said, leading them into a spacious open room. "I can't have my products running around free."

"I'm no one's product!" she seethed, jerking in the man's grip. "And I won't stay here and pretend to be one."

"You don't have much of a choice in the matter," he replied, sitting down on the large, ornate sofa in the center of the room. "You've been brought to the council to determine your worth, and to be sold off. Don't fret, we'll sever whatever fickle magic you possess long before we sell you."

"Sell-" she began, her voice dissolving into a shriek when she felt a hand high on her exposed thigh, the length of her skirt suddenly too short for comfort. The hand stayed there for just a second before shifting higher beneath the skirt, and she jerked in his grip to try and detach the hand.

This could not be happening. How the hell did she end up here of all places?

Lucy felt her breathing hitch when two different hands suddenly appeared on her forearms, keeping her torso contained as she was led towards one wall, his fingers digging painfully into her skin. The hand touching her ass didn't move, and she could feel her nerves beginning to win out and reality settled in.

She was supposed to be on a job not… not _here_. Her mind began panicking, looking around at the three greedy pairs of eyes as she struggled in her captors grip, her mind stuck between reason and fear.

She wasn't a fool. High class childhood or not, she'd heard of the _organizations_ like this that tricked girls into dangerous situations and ultimately got them sold into some sort of twisted sex trade. She'd just never imagined she'd encounter such a scenario while trying to take a low-paying job.

"Standard procedure Nigel. If she's intact we don't want to be ruining anything."

Lucy jerked her head, successfully smacking whoever was holding her arms in the face. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to do, but it did bring some sort of self-satisfaction and a bit of clarity to her brain. Terrified or not, she had to get out of there.

"Bitch," he snarled, grabbing her hair to yank her back towards him. She gasped, feeling something hard pressing into her lower back. The hand on her bottom tightened as well, and despite her resolve she felt tears pricking her eyes.

She needed to find a way out of there, _now_. Lucy struggled,

No one was coming to save her. She couldn't play a damsel this time, and she absolutely had to save herself.

"Let go of me!" she screamed, whipping her head to try to remove the hand gripping her hair. She heard a distinct sigh as the man groping her finally let up, the hand in her hair disappearing as well. Her head snapped forward, vision growing fuzzy at the sudden movement.

Her breathing picked up, and she couldn't make herself calm down enough to hide the growing fear. She could see the cuffs hanging on the wall now, and didn't need an explanation for what was going to happen next. Still, she'd fight like hell first.

The man dragging her towards the wall – Nigel, presumably – tightened his grip on her, his nails digging in hard enough to leave marks. Deciding she couldn't wait for a better opportunity Lucy jerked the weight of her body, attempting to take the man down one way or another. If she had her arms free, she could almost certainly fight her way out of this room. Her battle skills were honed well enough to do that much.

Much to her dismay, he seemed well versed in the art of handling terrified women. Without missing a beat he turned her weight against her, flipping them around so that she slammed into the wall instead, her head bouncing off the hard stone moments after her body.

It almost took her out, the sudden renewed pain joining the already disabling blurriness in her head. She gasped, the sound coming out more like a sob, and tried biting his hand.

"This one has spirit," Nigel said, pushing her into the wall again. She turned, blurred vision or not, and spit on him. Apparently it was enough to set him off and he snapped his wrist, the cuffs on the wall by her hip snaking out to wrap around her wrists.

Lucy snarled. She wouldn't lose, not like this. Without waiting she turned and delivered the most powerful Lucy kick she could muster right into this man's balls.

He let out a rather unimpressive groan as he fell to his knees, and despite everything else she felt slightly better. Well, at least they knew she wouldn't be taken lightly. Scowling at the other two people in the room, she turned her attention to the head man.

"Why would you do this?" Lucy asked, glaring at the man. How one human could be so completely despicable she didn't know, but the disgust she felt burning through her veins fueled her to win this battle. She couldn't lose and allow this _council_ to continue hurting mages who took their bullshit jobs.

She couldn't stand down. Keys or not, she had to win this fight somehow.

He chuckled, standing from his place. Lucy hadn't gotten to observe him much, most of his face shadowed outside by the night, and inside she was really more focused on whoever Nigel was and getting away from him. As he approached Lucy noted that he wasn't the towering presence she'd first assumed outside, rather he was nearly as wide at the shoulders as he was tall.

If she wasn't in peril, she might've been able to place where she'd seen him before. For some reason that pinched face rang a bell, but she couldn't find a memory that really brought up a familiar name.

He approached her, reaching out one gloved hand to stroke her cheek. She jerked her head, nearly catching a fingertip between her teeth. He snarled, pulling back again. "Your spirit is refreshing. Ones like you tend to give up so quickly. Don't worry, we'll break the fighter inside you soon enough."

"You'll never break my spirit. I will always fight for what I believe in."

"Your spirit Ms. Heartlfilia is refreshing, but you don't need to put on such a show. I've encountered your fighting skills before. Without that fireball you don't stand a chance, and I know Rustyrose took your keys. I won't even be able to reunite with my beautiful maiden Virgo again, but it is a loss I'm willing to accept."

Lucy's eyes widened, realization finally kicking in. Without the mustache and his inconceivably annoying hopping around, she hadn't noticed him immediately. "Everlue?"

"Didn't think our paths would cross again, did you?" he asked, snapping his fingers. The other man – the one Lucy was certain was groping her earlier – stepped forward, reaching toward her blouse. She jerked back as far into the wall as she could, her eyes wide.

She not be undressed here in front of these freaks. Apaprently undeterred, the man cocked an eyebrow and in one quick moment swept forward, severing the side of her skirt so the shredded fabric fell completely off.

Lucy's eyes widened, attempting to kick the man stripping her. This couldn't be happening.

"Well, not my taste of course," Everlue continued, looking over her critically. "You recall my beautiful servants, don't you? I'll never understand the fascination with girls who look like you. You're so ugly."

She cringed, attempting to cross her legs as the trio started her down, Nigel staring at her with a predatory look. She could feel her humiliation building, the flaming blush dancing up on her cheeks. This couldn't be happening.

If only she had her keys…

"Nigel," Everlue called, snapping his fingers. "Quickly now. I'm not going to spend all night here looking at such a putrid creature."

Pushing back into the wall, she watched him approach. She needed to do something, but she didn't see a way out now, and Nigel didn't exactly play nice. She steeled her expression as he approached, watching the way his eyes widened in glee, his fingers reaching towards her –

"White Dragon's Roar!"

Lucy's gaze snapped to the right, watching the surprise appear on the three men's face's immediately before they disappeared in a blinding white light, right along with the adjacent wall.

She spun and shielded her face, well aware of the power a dragon slayer's roar could produce. When the dust cleared she turned around, already knowing who she would face.

"I brought you something," Sting said, staring down at her. Lucy's eyes widened, cuffed hands reaching up to catch her keys as he tossed them down to her. "I told you this job was bogus."

"Yeah… yeah I guess you did."

Sting tilted his head to the side, glancing at the room and then looking her over. His eyes widened, reaching out a hand to snap the cuffs holding her there. Lucy reached up, immediately rubbing her wrists.

"So you-" Sting cut himself off as she stood up, eyes nearly bulging out of his head. He threw one arm up, looking like he was going to panic. "Hey, what happened to your head? And where did your pants go!?"

Lucy tried to smile, reaching up one hand to cover the wound on her head. "Oh, you know. Typical hijacking nonsense."

He sobered, his expression darkening. "Right. Can't one of your spirits make clothes or something? You'll need them to beat these freaks up."

She paused, watching the smirk dance across his face. He looked angry, somewhere beyond that she'd only rarely seen mirrored in her friend's faces, but he was doing a decent job containing it.

She also figured getting into a big talk right now wasn't a good idea, especially if they needed to fight. However he'd gotten her keys wasn't important right now. She hopped up, ignoring the way her legs wanted to shake and buckle beneath her. "Right. Now open, gate of the Lion and the Maiden!"

Lucy's smile widened when Loke and Virgo appeared before her, the latter immediately bowing and handing her a pair of shorts. "For you, princess."

Eyes twinkling, Lucy took the item from her just as the trio of men began to groan and wake up. "Thanks, Virgo. Now let's take them out!"

* * *

"That was pretty stupid, blondie," Sting said, pushing the last passed out man over with his boot. It didn't take long to take them down, and he almost wished they put up a better fight. At least it would've allowed him to take out more of his anger.

Glancing at the mage beside him, he resisted the urge to continue beating up the trio. She'd already told him to stop once, and he figured starting up again wouldn't help matters now.

He looked her over real quick while she talked to the duo in front of her, a third spirit with scissors having joined her. He couldn't recall the name, but he recognized Loke well enough. Presently, they were fawning over the collapsed mage.

He wondered how much they pieced together appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a fight, and he'd seen the fire in Loke's eyes when he realized she'd been half naked. Put that with the bruises forming on her arms and the wound on her head, it didn't take much to see that the spirits used their own power to avenge their master.

The trio in front of him was completely passed out, none of the men meaning much of anything to him. That didn't matter though, he hated them all the same. He didn't need to ask Lucy what happened, not when he could smell her fear miles away.

" _Sting, are you feeling okay?"_

 _He growled, glaring at Rogue as he tried approaching. He'd already chased off Yukino and Lector, the nagging pain in his head putting him in a particularly foul mood. He'd had a headache for the last hour, and it didn't get any better the longer people kept trying to talk to him._

" _I'm fine."_

" _You've been yelling for twenty minutes," he commented, taking a sip of his drink. "You sure you aren't worried about Lucy."_

" _Why would I be worrying about her?" he snapped, going back to moping over the bar. He should've just gone to bed early._

" _Well, you keep complaining about her."_

" _I am not!"_

He scowled. He hadn't been able to shake the sick feeling inside, so he went looking and caught her scent mixed with that sad excuse Rustyrose. He'd caught the prick on his way here, noticed the keys dancing from his hip and took those with him.

"Sting," Loke said, drawing his attention. He turned to see Virgo and the other spirit disappear when Lucy collapsed, the spirit barely keeping the girl from smacking her head on the ground. His eyes widened, turning to rush to their side.

"You're not supposed to push yourself with wounds like that," he snapped, grabbing her away from the spirit. "You need treatment."

She nodded, but he could feel her stiffen when he touched her, her arms moving away from her head to wrap around her torso instead. He frowned, the scent of fear hitting him again.

"We gotta get outta here," Sting grumbled, nodding to Loke. "Rufus is a pretty good medic, he can fix help if we go back to Sabertooth." He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. "I thought it takes lots of magic to keep your own gates open."

"It does," he agreed, wiping a sheen of sweat from his brow, "but I cannot leave Lucy after she was just attacked. It's our job to make sure she is alright."

"I'll be okay," Lucy replied, pushing away from Sting. He note the loss of heat almost instantly, but wasn't sure why that bothered him. He watched her stand up, not straight but enough that her head didn't hang.

He definitely couldn't say she was weak right now. He found himself impressed by her endurance.

Loke nodded, looking between the pair. "You'll make sure she gets treated?"

Sting rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Now go back to the celestial world before you fall over too."

The lion spirit smiled, nodding to Lucy before he disappeared in a haze of light. As soon as he was gone she sank down to her knees, glaring at the three unconscious figures in front of her.

"Lucy, we gotta go. It's late and you need to get that wound cleaned and rest."

She nodded but didn't move, staring at the figures laying sprawled in what was once a house. She looked pretty awful, and he was somewhat worried she'd start crying if they waited too long.

"They are selling girls who take the jobs," she said quietly, her hands shaking as she hugged herself. "That's what the job really was. It lures in mages and then people like Rustyrose collect them for this… _market_."

"The army will be here soon to see why this entire section is smoking," Sting replied, fighting down the anger that wanted to surface. Hell, she wasn't helping his self-control. "We probably don't wanna get caught up in that. Come on, I'll let's go back to the guild."

She didn't move, continuing to stare at them. "But what about the others?"

"Lucy, we don't know anything about them. And anyway we can't do anything until you get fixed up. That wound is pretty serious. Look we'll try to help later okay let's just go."

She looked ready to argue, until one of the men twitched and started groaning. She flinched, something he didn't miss, and quickly stood back up. "Yeah, alright."

Sting smirked, holding out a hand. "Great. Now hop on."

"I… what?"

He laughed, winking at her. "What? You didn't think we were walking all the way to Sabertooth, did you?"

* * *

Lucy rubbed her head, smiling at Rufus as he left the infirmary. He'd done a good job cleaning up her head, and for the first time in hours everything wasn't fading in and out of focus. Unfortunately she also couldn't sleep due to a possible concussion, so she was left with her thoughts.

 _Sting_.

She hadn't thought anyone was coming to save her. She hadn't told enough people where she was going. She'd purposefully left her friends at Fairy Tail with little information, hoping no one would bother her for a few days. She hadn't thought anyone would need to know all that much about her location for such a simple job.

Lucy sighed, pulling her legs towards her. Whatever reason Sting had for coming to look for her, she wasn't going to be angry at him for sticking his nose in her business. She didn't like thinking about what would've happened if he didn't show up.

But how did he find her? How did he even know to go looking for her, or was it a stroke of luck? She doubted he was wandering around that late of night, happened to catch her scent, and investigate. It was almost morning now, so he would've been out around midnight wandering around for no damn reason.

She didn't believe that for a minute.

"Rufus said you should be fine," Sting said, cutting into her thoughts. Her head whipped up, the action causing her stomach to churn. She wasn't supposed to do that for the next couple hours. "Feeling better?"

Lucy nodded, watching the guild master awkwardly hang out near the door. He hadn't been a total jerk since finding her, at least not since he helped her up on his back and raced back here. She'd nearly passed out twice, and her shaking was enough to cause him to stop at once point and check on her.

 _Still with me blondie?_

"Blondie?"

She blinked realizing Sting had come closer, and was giving her a weird look. "Sorry, what?"

"You get lost in thought a lot, don't you?" he grumbled, sitting down on the bed beside her. "Gonna tell me what happened?"

Lucy huffed, looking away. She had no intention of continuing to focus on that. "No."

"But hey, I rescued you. Don't I get to know what I saved you from?"

She scowled, glaring at him. "Use your imagination Sting. I'm sure you can figure it out."

"Well, yeah, but I don't wanna imagine."

Sighing, she shifted her gaze away. "I don't want to talk about it, okay? Let's just… pretend it didn't happen."

"That's not-"

"You're not pretending."

Sting frowned, moving until she had to look at him. "Okay, fine. I'll play your game for now. Want to talk about Natsu instead?"

"Also no."

"You know, you're really making this difficult. I'm not trying to be an ass right now."

"Well, try a little harder."

"Unbelievable," he snapped, and Lucy knew she was pushing his buttons. It wasn't her fault that she didn't want to talk about hr god-awful experience tonight, not with the memories threatening to bring tears to her eyes. Really, she got off easy. No one actually _touched_ her.

"Oh god, don't cry. I take it back, we don't have to talk about anything!"

She swallowed, nodding her head to him. "Okay, I don't want to talk about me anyway. How did you even find me?"

Sting smirked, happy to talk about anything else. He flicked his nose, winking. "I just had a feeling."

"Well, thanks. I guess I owe you one."

"You don't owe me anything, blondie. Just let yourself rest until you actually recover this time, okay?"

She smiled softly, nodding her head. Adjusting in the bed, she tried to make herself comfortable as early morning light peeked through the windows. "Okay."

 **A/n:** I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I like the development and the backbone for more plot aside from the mating idea, however I don't know if I'm fully satisfied with the execution. On that note, I at least wanted to get this chapter out before the next week begins as I have no idea when I will have time to write again.

Also, the whole story won't focus on the theme of this chapter. It'll play it's part but it is not the entire premise. Now that this chapter is posted, there is also a warning in the first part of the story. We might even see some of our bad guys show up again sometime! Until the next chapter dearies.


	6. Safe Space

**A/n: Due to the content of last chapter and some of it in this one I've bumped the stories warning up to an M. All I can say is it opens up a bunch of possibilities for what could happen in future chapters. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lucy bolted upright, the nightmare fading out as her eyes snapped open, the scream barely holding back in her throat. She took several panting, deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart.

Swiping at her brow, she realized she'd been sweating a fair amount. There was a sheen left behind on her forearm, and the sheets felt damp. Shaken, she glanced around the room.

Right, she was at Sabertooth. Logically, the first person she should see would be a member of the guild, or even Sting himself.

Wrong.

"Are you okay princess?" Virgo asked, moving forward with a damp towel. The fabric felt cool against her skin, but it did nothing to quell the surge of emotion. "I was going to wake you up if you didn't come to soon."

"Virgo?" she squeaked, touching the towel on her forehead. "W-what are you-"

"Big brother and I had to make sure you were recovering," she continued, pointing across the room. Lucy followed her finger, coming to rest on Loke's still form sitting in the bed across from her. His legs were crisscross beneath him, clearly waiting for the girl to wake up.

"We were worried about you," Loke agreed, his arms remaining crossed. "We asked Libra to talk to Yukino about how you were doing, and when we heard you were having nightmares we figured our help was needed."

"It was very dangerous to go on that mission, princess. Sting is a guild master you know. He has a duty to tell you if something doesn't seem right and he did."

Eyes flashing, Lucy looked between the pair. "So you spoke to him then?"

"He was here when we came out," Virgo continued, adjusting the towel on her forehead. "He was…"

"Angry," Loke finished, pushing his glasses up as he glared at her. "That was hours ago. I told him to go away and blow off some steam. He hasn't come back yet."

"Oh," Lucy said, trying to process the information. She felt like she was dazed, looking between the pair but not really following along. Her magic was definitely weakened right now, but she couldn't feel anymore being drained. They were remaining in her world by keeping their own gates open. "You two are going to wear yourselves out staying here."

"Don't worry about us," Loke argued, his tone harsher than before. "We're fine. Sitting around watching you hardly takes any magic. Besides, you should have someone here to greet you when you wake."

Lucy glanced around, noting that the rest of the healing chamber was surprisingly empty. The doors at the end were pressed firmly shut, and most of the curtains were drawn to keep the sunlight out. Still, from what she could see of the outside, it looked like late afternoon, early evening.

If memory served they showed up at Sabertooth around dawn. If she'd been asleep since then she'd slept most of the day away.

"Where are the guild members?" she asked curiously, gingerly touching her head. It wasn't as tender as before, and she could feel the sticky salve covering the wound, working its magic to heal her.

"Probably letting your guild friends know where you are," Loke snapped, getting up off the bed. "Since you only bothered talking to Levy, there's been a bit of a fit. I spoke to Erza and Gray earlier. They weren't too pleased about what happened and your negligence to give anyone, including Levy, a direct answer. Apparently that request was supposed to come down off the wall, you just snatched it up too quick."

She frowned, fingering the blanket. "And you told them I'm okay, right?"

"I gave them a brief summary of what happened and told them you're unconscious in the hospital wing," he replied, watching the panic flash in her eyes. "I also told them they don't need to run over here, and Sting backed me up. You're… recovering."

Cringing, she glanced away. That definitely wasn't what she would call a positive thing. After last night, she should just consider herself lucky.

It could've been much, much worse. If Sting hadn't somehow found her and brought her keys… she shuddered at the thought.

"Virgo, take a break," Loke continued, shooting the maiden a serious look. "I'll be back soon, once someone comes back in here. I just need to have a chat with princess."

The maid nodded, a look of understanding passing between them. Turning Virgo bowed, one hand held out before her. "I will let you punish me next time, princess."

As she faded out Lucy turned to the merciless eyes of Loke, his anger not masked by his glasses. He waited several moments before speaking, holding her beneath his disapproving gaze. "What the hell were you thinking?"

She huffed, gripping the sheets tighter. "I-I had it handled."

"Hardly!" he snapped, pushing away from her. "If Sting didn't find you you'd be dead or raped. Those men knew how to hold someone down and take what they wanted. I don't know how the hell he found you princess, but you're lucky. You owe him."

Lucy sighed, unable to disagree. Yeah, she'd gotten herself into a shit situation and Sting somehow got her out of it _after_ warning her to not go in the first place. She couldn't wait to hear how many jabs the slayer could make about that.

"Where is he now?" she asked quietly, thinking back to his rage the night before. He'd been furious when he found her, but mostly concerned for her wellbeing. She hadn't really gotten to thank him. He'd been asking questions earlier, and now that she was awake she probably owed him some answers.

She gulped, wondering how she could put her experience into words. Just thinking about it made her want to panic; she couldn't imagine actually saying it out loud.

"After I told him to blow off some steam, he said he'd come back later," Loke replied. "He made sure your friends don't panic and run over here Lucy. He didn't mention any of the sexual content to them either. Sting figured that would be the trigger that sends them running here. It's your job to tell them that when you return home."

"Oh… right."

"And I'm not expecting that to be today," Loke stressed, his expression softening. "You need to rest and properly recover. Rufus said you should be okay, and I had Gemini come out and turn into Wendy briefly to double check. You're physically doing very well."

Lucy smiled, thinking of all the love her spirits had shown her. "Thank you. I owe all of you."

"We're just happy you're okay now," he admitted. "But Lucy, please be more careful. I don't know how Sting managed to do it, but he found you in that hellhole. Another time you might not be so lucky. Please, don't be so rash. I know you were upset over Natsu-"

"I was not," she squealed, eyebrows shooting up. "Why would you say that?"

Loke rolled his eyes. "Save it. Levy already gave me a rundown of how you were acting. You convinced him you two are not mates and now you need to live with it. Being upset over something you put into play does no good. I thought you just saw him as a friend."

"Yeah, me too," she grumbled. "Um, you didn't mention seeing him."

"He's on a mission with Lisanna and Happy still," he replied, shrugging. "Won't return for a few days. There's no telling how he will react. He will be a lot harder to rein in than Erza and Gray, and they are pretty impossible."

"Tell me about it."

Loke looked like he wanted to say something else but shut his mouth as the door on the other side of the room opened, revealing Sting. He looked more disheveled than normal, a light sheen of sweat glistening off his skin and his usual jacket gone.

"I'll leave you to talk," Loke said instead, shooting another look Lucy's way. "Call me out soon. I want to know how you're doing princess."

He disappeared as Sting arrived, his eyes just as angry as the last time she'd seen him. He remained quiet for a moment as he studied her, his head tilted to one side. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," she muttered, eyes looking elsewhere. His glare was intense, even worse than Loke's.

"I bet," he grumbled, sitting down on the bed beside her instead of across the room. "I didn't think you'd be able to lie."

"Well, Loke already reamed me for it."

"Yeah, I believe that too. Lion boy is feisty when it comes to you."

Lucy blushed. "He's protective. All my spirits are. They are part of my family."

He stayed quiet, mulling over her words. It was many moments before he spoke again. "I let your guild know you were attacked. I had to, I'm duty bound. But I'm sure Loke already told you all of that."

She swallowed, the noise sounding so distinct in the quiet room. "He did."

Sting nodded, pushing away from the bed again. "Did he also tell you you're staying here a couple days?"

Lucy sputtered, sitting straighter in the bed. "No because no one tells me what _I'm_ going to do."

"Oh, clearly," he snapped, narrowing his eyes. "I warned you yesterday and you didn't listen. Why would you want my help now?"

She flinched, immediately realizing her mistake. Sting didn't miss a beat, taking a deep breath at her reaction. "There's no way you can leave right now Lucy. You have to give yourself a couple days to recoup. You can't even take me yelling at you, and I'm the one that saved you. I'm the last person who wants to hurt you right now."

"H-how did you save me?" she asked, clenching her hands when her voice came out shaky. How sad. "I mean, how did you even know where to begin to find me? You had no way of knowing I was in danger."

Sting glanced down, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "Call it a hunch I guess. I could just feel that something was wrong, and that seemed like the best place to start."

"So, even without any sort of hint, you could somehow sense something was wrong? With me?"

He sighed. "I don't know how to explain it blondie, it just kind of happened. And when I caught your scent mixed with that fucker Rusty-"

She tensed again, and he could tell she was close to reacting to the name. "Um, let's just not talk about that part right now."

For a moment she thought he would argue but he didn't, turning away with a huff to pace back and forth in front of her bed for a moment. "Do you want a room? I had one cleaned up for you. You don't want to stay in here the next couple days do you? I thought that would at least be more comfortable."

Lucy blinked, surprised. If she didn't know any better, she would say Sting was flustered. "You… you didn't need to do that."

"It's better than the hospital wing. Are you okay right now? I can take you up there. It's got to be more comfortable than this."

She nodded, thinking it might make her feel better to be anywhere else. Pushing back the sticky sheets she tensed, staring down at her legs.

Right, she was wearing the zodiac shorts Virgo handed her. They were short and tight, successfully covering the part of her she needed. But seeing them there on her body made the situation that much more real.

Staring at her arms, she realized the bruises were gone. Even her wrists looked good. Unsure what to say she looked towards the dragon slayer, who seemed to be trying really hard to not sneer.

"Gemini was able to heal your arms," he remarked, pointing to her wrists. "They might be a bit tender, but nothing too bad. The wound in your head is still there, but it's more of a bump than anything now."

She nodded, numbly getting out of bed. Her feet slapped against the floor as she hopped off, the sound doing nothing to jolt her from the daze. Sting was still studying her, looking more concerned by the minute.

A thought crossed her mind, and she started to panic. Whipping her eyes up to meet his, he read the surprise there. "You didn't do a rape test did you?"

Sting eyes flashed, stepping closer. She felt a surge of power overtake her, and she realized it was coming from the man himself. " _No_ , we didn't feel it needed to be done. Your underwear are intact Lucy, I saw so myself-"

"Oh good – good," she stuttered, gripping the bed. Even though she'd just managed to get up she felt her legs giving up, sinking her back down to her knees. "I was hoping you'd say no. I – I didn't want anyone else thinking someone…"

"Lucy," he said gently, crouching down beside her. "You don't need to be so scared of people knowing. The only ones who know anything are Yukino, Orga, Rogue and Rufus because I needed help when you passed out on the way here. That was before your spirits came out. That's it, and they won't bring the topic up. I didn't tell anyone else a thing, including your teammates. It's not my place."

She nodded, gulping. "Right. I was just worried something may have gotten out."

Sting remained quiet, studying her a moment before standing to offer her a hand. "Come on, get up. Let me show you the room."

Glancing up, she realized some of the power he'd let off had disappeared again, and she wondered if he was suppressing it. Hesitating for just a moment she accepted his help, not meeting his gaze when she stood.

He was nice enough this time to not mention it, turning swiftly to exit the room. Lucy blinked, taking a moment to follow his form with her eyes before moving her feet. He moved pretty quickly.

Halfway down the hall, he must've realized he was leaving her in the dust. Turning back he noticed she was several paces behind, staring at the walls of the building as she went. He didn't get it. They were nothing special.

Moving back he matched her pace, ignoring her questioning look. "You're slow blondie."

"Hey, haven't you ever heard of taking in the scenery?"

"The walls are white."

"Yeah… pristine," she whispered, her gaze sweeping around as she walked. "A little bit like his house, though I didn't actually see any hallways."

Sting bit his lip, refusing to reply. He didn't want to bring anything else up, knowing once he started asking questions about yesterday he wouldn't be able to stop. Lucy wasn't mentally prepared to talk about any of it yet, that much he knew for sure. Maybe in a couple days she'd be up to the task, but right now she needed to work on calming down and realizing she was in a safe place again.

Besides, he already knew the answer to one of the biggest questions. She wasn't raped, he didn't entertain the thought. He wasn't sure if she was so stunned she was just confused, or if she asked him about the test because she feared what others would think. Either way, that wasn't one of his fears. Even if he hadn't seen physical evidence, his nose didn't lie. There were no smells of sex in the air, and everyone's individual scent remained that way, not intertwined at all.

It put his mind at ease just a little bit to know she was kind of okay.

"Here we are," he said, gently touching her shoulder outside a door on the floor above the hospital wing. She didn't tense this time, and he took that as a good thing. "This room is just down the hall from mine, so you can get to me if you need to but you don't actually have to see me if you don't want to."

"Okay."

Pushing the door open, he let her take the space in. Thank god the walls in here were a pale blue, not white like the hallway. It wasn't one of the bigger rooms in the guild but he purposefully picked it since it was close. He didn't want her too far away.

As she looked around the space he studied her, hoping he wouldn't frighten her. He felt better now that the bruising was gone from her arms, the sight of them a painful reminder she'd been hurt. Her head would heal by tomorrow, and then she'd physically look okay. It was the mental part he was concerned about.

However it wasn't her injuries that drew his attention the most, but the juncture of her throat where Natsu's bite used to be. It was long faded by now, but he couldn't stop staring. The skin looked so naked.

So empty.

Sting took a step back, horrified by the sudden, unexpected thoughts. She just got attacked! He shouldn't be fantasizing about her in any way. Besides, why would he stare at that spot? He had no reason to.

Well, there could be a reason, but Sting kept pushing it away. He needed to make sure Lucy was on her way to recovery. He couldn't think anything else about her right now.

She sat down on the bed, gingerly testing it out and Sting felt himself smiling a little. At least she seemed slightly better now being out of the hospital area. Maybe things would be alright.

* * *

"Things aren't alright," Rogue reminded, sitting beside Sting in his office. He left Lucy over an hour ago, telling her he'd come see her before dinner. He wasn't sure she'd want to deal with all that chaos tonight, but he'd leave the option open just in case. "Two army officials stopped by earlier."

"I know. I made you deal with them."

"Thanks for that by the way," Rogue grumbled. "You told me to let you know how the arrests last night went."

"Right. Smoothly I hope?"

"There were none Sting," he snapped, glaring at his longtime friend. "There was one casualty though. One of the men helping Everlue was killed, probably when the others escaped. There's an alert out to apprehend the men on sight."

Sting flew up, throwing the paperwork on his desk into a whirlwind and onto the floor in his rage. He was so distracted he missed the way the shadow dragon slayer sighed, knowing he'd get roped into helping his friend clean the disaster up later. "What do you mean there were no _fucking_ arrests? Did the army fuck up that badly? They weren't even conscious when I took her out of there!"

"I don't know what happened," Rogue deadpanned, unamused. "Rustyrose was not arrested either. There's no way of knowing if they left together or not. The army assumes foul play though. The one casualty was due to the man being burned alive. For one reason or another they didn't want him coming along."

Sting growled, punching the office wall. "How could they fucking escape? I knew I should've just killed them!"

"You were worried about Lucy," he reminded, calmly sipping the tea he'd brought upstairs. "And you did the right thing getting her away over getting revenge. She's safe here at the guild."

"Yeah, until these bastards show up for seconds."

"Now you're just trying to make me mad on her behalf. Look Sting, we both know no one will be able to break in here and just snatch her up. There are way too many skilled wizards here to let that happen. Besides, you'd never let someone steal your mate away."

Sting sputtered, turning rigidly on his heel to stare at the man. "M-mate? Are you batty?! She's just some girl I keep running into."

"Uh huh."

"And she just got out of that godawful situation with Natsu. If I said one damn thing to her about it she'd laugh in my face."

"Ah, a fear of rejection. You've never had that problem before. She's got to be your mate."

" _Rogue_."

Holding up his hands, the shadow dragon slayer couldn't quite fight off a grin. "I'm just saying Sting, you had a lot of intuition yesterday. I didn't think to go check on her, and I was part of the conversation. And I doubt I could've picked up her scent on that street and tracked it faintly for miles. And I definitely wouldn't have been able to backtrack Rustyrose, take her keys, and then show up to save her. And I know I wouldn't have beaten those men within an inch of their lives and still have had enough energy to race her back here immediately and make sure she got proper treatment."

Sting's eye twitched, his glare remaining. "What's your point?"

Rogue smirked, sitting back in the chair. "Oh, nothing. You'll realize you're denying it soon enough and come to your senses. We only find one mate in our lifetime, I'm certain you've found yours. You won't let her escape."

"But aren't the signs wrong?" Sting stressed, his eyes narrowing. "Aren't I like supposed to know right away and want to mark her?"

"Well, you probably didn't know when you first met because you didn't like each other," Rogue reasoned. "And since then you've tolerated each other at best, and now this is in the way. Not really the ideal circumstances to find love. When things settle you'll realize it's true."

Sting growled. "And why are you so damn certain?"

Laughing, Rogue sat forward, his eyes dancing. "You really don't remember arriving last night, do you? You and Lucy were both in a bit of a daze, and I know she passed out on the way."

"Yeah, I remember that too."

"But you don't remember trying to bite everyone's head off for the first ten minutes while we tried to help?"

He blinked a couple times, suddenly confused. "What?"

"Oh yeah. Lucy just thinks she almost passed out, I don't know if you actually told her that she did or not, or if she's realized it on your own. Anyway, it was just worse once she was unconscious. You kept snarling at Rufus that if he touched her you'd rip him to shreds."

He blinked again. " _I_ did that?"

"Sting, you tried to bite my head off. _Literally_. If I didn't know you so well it may have actually been a problem."

Paling, Sting sat down. "I acted that way in front of the whole guild?"

"No, you blew past the few who were awake downstairs," Rogue recalled, tapping his chin. "Rufus and I were up here waiting just in case like you asked, and Orga and Yukino were with us. We're the only ones who got to witness that special show."

Sting cringed. "Well I didn't mean to act like that. I seriously don't remember any of it."

"Of course you don't," he agreed. "Don't you remember the story? It's pretty typical to not remember the heat of a moment like that when it involves your mate until you mark and claim them. Lucy's not your mate, yet. Your brain is going to keep getting overpowered by testosterone until you admit what I already see and mark her. You're only going to be able to see the end goal until you clear both heads."

He growled. "Even if that was true Rogue, it's not going to happen. You've seen her. She's terrified. I can't get anywhere near her like that."

"Give it time," he advised. "There's really no rush. I know you've found her, and if you would just look at it logically you'd know it too."

Sting groaned, turning away. "Stop preaching to me damnit."

"Hey, you're the one that won't admit to it."

* * *

There were several reasons Sting decided Lucy needed to sleep on the same floor as him. All of them included keeping an eye on her, but it was more than just that. The idea of letting anyone else have the responsibility made him physically ill.

Damnit Rogue, now he couldn't get that stupid lecture out of his head. Maybe that was why he couldn't sleep.

No, that was a lie. He knew he couldn't sleep unless he got to check on Lucy again and ensure she was okay. Maybe he was being paranoid but he couldn't stop thinking something bad might happen. So instead of sleeping for the past three hours he'd been laying there glaring at the ceiling, drumming his fingers.

This wasn't working.

For maybe the fifth time total Sting tried closing his eyes, willing himself to pass out. He'd now neglected his duties two days in a row, and he needed to get back on track. He already had a massive amount of paperwork to catch up on, but first there was the little matter of picking it up off the floor and resorting.

A muffled cry caught his attention, Sting's eyes snapping open. He jerked up in bed, already certain who that was. Before his mind could process it he was already out the bedroom door, his feet taking him into the hallway.

Almost instantly he realized the cries were quiet. If he didn't have dragon hearing he may not have noticed it. Taking a breath he started down the hallway, glaring at Rogue's door as he passed.

Of course the prick didn't check out the noise. He already knew what it was, and had probably heard it too. He was just convinced that Sting was her mate and needed to be the one to check on her. Cheeky bastard.

Sting paused outside her door, wondering if he should actually enter or not. However another cry caught his attention and he decided to forgo knocking, figuring Lucy wouldn't hear it anyway. Throwing open the door, he felt his heart twist at the sight.

She was obviously trapped in some sort of nightmare, the newly washed sheets soaked in sweat as she threw herself around, limbs twisted in the covers. She whined again, and as Sting cautiously approached he noted the tear streaks on her face.

Damnit, he had to wake her up. Cautiously reaching out to shake her shoulder, he hoped his touch didn't accidentally have an adverse effect. Lucy jerked immediately in her sleep, her pitch rising before he got a chance to say anything as she cried out again.

He needed to wake her up before the entire freaking guild was on his case about this. Grabbing both shoulders, he shook her. "Lucy, wake up! Lucy!"

She whispered, his pleas going unanswered. He shook her harder this time, desperately needing to jar her out of the dream. "Lucy!"

Her eyes snapped open just before her arm shot out, catching Sting off guard as she nailed him in the side of the head. She took a loud, shuddering breath as she bolted upright, wired eyes darting around the room.

Sting shook out his head, surprised how much force was behind that hit. Those bastards were lucky her hands were bound when they got her or they would've had another thing coming. Cautiously looking up from the floor, Sting met her terrified gaze.

"Lucy."

She barely managed to hold his gaze for a couple seconds before she broke down into sobs, her hands flying up to grip her head as she screamed. Sting reacted immediately, first jumping up to throw the door shut and then turning to approach her again.

"Lucy," he said, unsure she could hear him over her screams. "I'm just going to come and sit with you on the bed. Nothing bad, promise."

She continued to hyperventilate, her fingers digging into her scalp. Sting approached a little faster than he intended when he noticed she was hurting herself. "Hey! Lucy please, don't hurt yourself like that."

Somehow he managed to pry her hands away, holding them together between his while she shook. It took a few moments before she managed to turn to him and acknowledge that he was there. "S-Sting."

He smiled slightly when her cries quieted, reaching over to flick on the side table light. She didn't look any better now that he could see, the tearstains and terror on her face threatening to break his heart.

Lucy was still shaking, her breathing coming out in pants. She hadn't really calmed down, but she did seem to be bottling up the panic more than letting it out. He didn't like that, calmly using one hand to brush her cheek. He tried to not be offended when she flinched away again.

"Breathe," he whispered, trying his best to comfort her without reaching forward again. "You're going to be okay. You're at Sabertooth, remember?"

Nodding stiffly, she drew her legs up beneath her to rest her head against, continuing to cry. Sting sat silently beside her, unsure what else he could do. If he tried something else he'd probably just frighten her again.

It felt like hours passed before Lucy's sobs began to quiet, and Sting felt brave enough to try patting her back. She didn't pull away this time, turning her body instead to press into his side, the arms wrapping tightly around him. He blinked, surprised.

Gently he hugged her back, glad she wasn't pulling back anymore. Rubbing slow circles across her spine he rested his head on hers, his sanity returning now that she was no longer screaming. He couldn't stomach the sound.

Sting wanted to talk to her but didn't get the chance. By the time she had calmed down he realized she'd passed out once more, her breathing even again. At first he didn't move at all, staring instead at her prone figure.

"I'm sorry Lucy," he whispered, keeping her pressed to him a bit longer. "I should've taken them out when I could. But don't you worry, they will never touch you again. I'll kill them myself."

 **A/n: Oh gee, I haven't updated since August? I meant to update before my wedding but the chapter just wouldn't come. This is way better (and longer) than what was originally planned. Hope you guys liked it! Now that I'm back from my honeymoon I'm trying to update more regularly, so be on the lookout!**


	7. The Words of a Maiden

Lucy was barely listening to Yukino as the girl chatted beside her, trying to make the Fairy feel welcome as she poked the food on her plate. She'd had a fitful night, her dreams turning to nightmares almost immediately after she passed out.

She hadn't really expected anything different, but the images that flashed through her head still caused her to tremble. Her only comfort was Everlue and those other awful men were safely behind bars, and she didn't have to worry about them now.

At least, she hoped.

When she woke this morning she was alone, a light sheen of sweat dampening her skin. She'd managed to crawl out of bed and get dressed in some clothing Virgo provided her, ignoring the way the nosy maid seemed to study her every move.

She barely acknowledged how the bed beside her was warm, thinking nothing of it. For some reason that fact didn't scare her, and if any of her spirits sensed she was in danger while asleep they would've jumped to life to help.

"…do you think? Lucy?"

Blinking, she realized Yukino was studying her earnestly. Thankfully they were the only ones at the table, the other guild members either having enough sense to leave her alone or had already been instructed to do so. Lucy cleared her throat before speaking, not trusting her own voice.

"Sorry… what?"

The girl's expression softened, gently patting Lucy's hand. She didn't flinch away but her fingers did tighten on the table at the touch, causing Yukino to cringe. "I was just talking about Fairy Tail… Sting contacted them."

Right, Sting. He'd talked to Makarov again at some point, agreeing that Lucy would be better resting here before returning home. She knew Erza and Gray were biting at the bit to come get her, but even Loke assured them sometime this morning that she was better here for a couple days. Traveling wasn't in her best interest right now.

She was already on edge sitting there in the guild hall where no one could just sneak up on her. She couldn't imagine how awful it would be to travel on be terrified the entire time. She needed to get her bearings before returning to Magnolia.

Besides, now she didn't know how she'd feel when she got back. Usually when bad things happened she had her friends, specifically Natsu, to rely on and help hold her together. Now she'd pushed Natsu into Lisanna, and there was no telling what would happen when she went back.

"You can stay here for a week," Yukino continued, studying the blonde with interest. She hadn't yet responded, and the Saber took it upon herself to continue talking. "Makarov agreed that you should recover here from an attack for that long. After that it's really up to you when you leave. We just wanna make sure you don't run off too soon."

Lucy nodded, ignoring the mischevious glint in Yukino's eyes. There was something else she wasn't saying there beneath the surface, but Lucy was too tired to question it. More than anything, she just wanted to go back up to the room Sting gave her and hide.

She hated all the eyes on her back, studying her without speaking. Maybe the other guild members were just too afraid to approach her.

Staring the other direction she looked up towards the second floor, where the railing allowed those up there to look down. Sting and Rogue were up there now, leaning on the banister as they looked around. Their exceeds were there too, Frosch balanced on Rogue's head and Lector holding onto Sting's arm as he rested on the railing.

She couldn't take her eyes off the guild master. Lucy thought he might've come into the room last night to comfort her, but now she wasn't sure. Everything about the last twenty-four hours felt like a blur, the events blending together into nothing.

Sting seemed to feel her gaze, his eyes swiveling to find hers. He continued talking to Rogue about something but didn't look away, something warring with him behind his iris.

Lucy might just be sleep deprived, but she thought he looked worried.

"You can always go talk to him," Yukino said knowingly, waving Rufus over. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Sting would probably like to see how you're doing anyway."

Hesitating, she met the other celestial wizard's eyes. "Won't I be interrupting them?"

Lifting her eyes to the duo, Yukino shook her head. "They are constantly talking about something. Sting is sort of a slacker when it comes to guild master duties. Half the time he ropes Rogue into helping him play catch-up. I guarantee that's what their discussing now. If it was serious they wouldn't be out here in the main room."

Mulling that over, Lucy decided it made sense. They were friends before Sting became the guild master after all, he could reasonably talk to Rogue about other things than work.

Like her, for example. Lucy had no doubt that somewhere down the line during this conversation her name came up, and least once.

"I think I will go talk to him," she said quietly, pushing away her mostly untouched breakfast. She missed the concerned looks Yukino and Rufus shared behind her back, her gaze set on the blond man upstairs. She marched that way before her nerves got the best of her, not entirely sure what she was going to say.

Already she had thanked him a couple times for saving her, repeating the same two words over again wouldn't do anything. He could already clearly tell that she meant it, so she'd have to come up with some other reason for talking to him.

Lucy blinked as she climbed the stairs, thinking it over. Did she even need an excuse? Sting saved her, and was one of the few people she actually knew in Sabertooth. It would probably look stranger if she didn't talk to him.

"Good morning, Lucy," Rogue said, snapping her out of her thoughts as she reached the second floor. The duo had ceased talking, both sets of eyes watching her curiously as she approached. She noted somewhere on her way up that Frosch and Lector disappeared. "How are you feeling?"

She opened her mouth to say she was okay, the words dying in her mouth. She didn't really feel okay, more of her skin covered than usual as she fought off prying eyes. She'd demanded this morning that Virgo give her pants instead of shorts, the boots she'd provided successfully covering all of Lucy save for her hands, neck and face.

Knowing she was never this covered, she drew a lot of stares. Even Sting and Rogue looked mildly surprised by her attire that morning.

"I'm… here," she said, glancing between their faces. Rogue seemed to accept the answer, shoving away from Sting to lean back against the opposite wall. "I'm getting along."

Sting looked ready to say something but turned away, his eyes glaring down to the first floor again. Lucy felt a frown tugging at her lips, wondering why he was acting so cold this morning.

"Did you eat?" Rogue asked, shooting a glare in Sting's direction as he continued the conversation. She wasn't sure what that was about, shifting to lean on the banister further down from the blond.

"Yes," she lied, ignoring the way both men seemed to glance down at her plate still sitting on the table. It was clear she hadn't touched hardly anything. "Enough anyway."

Rogue frowned, seeming to think over what he was going to say next before speaking. "You shouldn't worry so much, you're perfectly safe here at Sabertooth. We will all ensure that. But if you don't eat you won't get your strength back any faster."

Lucy flinched at his words, ignoring the way Sting's eyebrows shot up at the reaction. She might be enclosed within the walls, but safe wasn't exactly what she felt. Her nerves were still on edge, her experience constantly replaying in her head at unwanted moments, reminding her of what happened again.

Her thoughts turned to the other girls that Everlue and the others captured before her, thinking of their less than desirable fates. What happened once the girls left that place? Lucy liked to think that they were alive somewhere, even if they were suffering. Suffering meant there was still a chance someone could save them.

She still couldn't stomach the idea of them being left behind, her own memories vivid enough to start her knees shaking again. Someone had to do something; this couldn't go on.

She wanted to help, and even be the one to save the girls captured. But first she had to actually be able to think about it without freaking out, and she'd definitely need her week of recovery to even be close to that point.

"Sting," she bit out, interrupting whatever they were talking about. Clearly they picked up the conversation elsewhere when she failed to respond, but now her voice cut through what they were talking about, the guild master focusing all of his attention on her once more.

Lucy gulped, his intense stare seeming to look right through her. She didn't know why his eyes were so dominating today, like they could see more of her than she wanted. Clearing her throat, she tried again.

"I uh… I want to talk to you about a mission."

He frowned, looking surprised by the request. "What mission?"

"Well, it has to do with the last one I went on."

"What about it?" he snapped, his eyes narrowing. "That mission was a dangerous enough sham. Did you see another one like it posted somewhere?" He shook his head, the scowl deepening. "There's absolutely no way we're even discussing another mission like that."

"I don't want to go on another mission just yet," she agreed, her voice a little quieter. "I need a few days to myself first."

"Yeah."

She scowled, hating his clipped tone. "But that's not the point. The mission I took was a set up, and the job was posted in at least two guilds-"

"Multiple guilds," Sting corrected, holding up a finger. She noticed the heavy bags under his eyes now, the digit near his face. He didn't look like he'd slept well. "I already talked to Makarov about this. There's an announcement going to all the guilds in the area to confiscate any other postings like the last one. Apparently a couple of the other guild masters noticed something strange about the postings too. We're going to monitor incoming jobs more carefully."

Lucy bit her lip, Sting's words doing nothing to relax her. That wasn't what she wanted to talk to him about. "No um… I meant a mission… for me."

His eyebrows shot up, and beside him she could see Rogue looking on with interest too. "What do you mean for you? You should be worried about resting and getting back to Magnolia, not about _requesting_ a job."

"I'm not requesting," she argued, hands gripping her hips. "I'm telling. It's the next mission I plan on going on, and I plan on doing it the moment I leave Sabertooth. I won't delay."

Scowling, he crossed his arms. "And just what is that?"

Lucy lifted her chin, refusing to back down. "I want to go looking for the men who are running that operation. Everlue was just a pawn, and he's gone now. I want to go looking for the headquarters and stop this."

Sting's eyes flashed, standing straighter. "Out of the question. I'm not going to agree to that!"

"I'm going whether you agree or not," Lucy argued, hardening her gaze. "I'm not looking for permission. I figure you and master Makarov and pretty much everyone else will say no anyway. It doesn't matter. This is something I have to do."

"No," he argued, his voice lowering. "Absolutely not. This is not the kind of mission you'll be going on. This is _at least_ an S-class mission, if not higher. Jura is already being considered for the job of taking them out, and he's a Wizard Saint."

"Well Jura's going to draw attention," she argued, her voice rising. "He wouldn't even be able to sneak in! Someone who peaks their interest has to do this. You can't just go destroy something when you don't know anything about it!"

"Someone else can handle it then," Sting snapped, stepping closer. "You're not doing anything else regarding this, period. No one's going to argue with me about it."

Lucy snarled, stamping her foot. She was not going to take being told what to do by the damn slayer, guild master or not. "You can't tell me what to do! I'm not a part of this guild!"

"Maybe not, but Makarov is in agreement with me. He knows how headstrong you are and figured you would try to go after these men yourself. You're not in any condition right now to go after them."

"But I will be!"

"No!"

"Uh – guys?"

Rogue's voice sliced through their argument, Lucy finally remembering that he was there with them. She blinked, also recalling that they were on the second floor, speaking rather loudly in front of everyone.

She blushed, eyes briefly peeking out at the Sabertooth members. The hall was all but silent, eyes staring up at them with keen interest. Suddenly she was the center of attention again.

"It's not up for debate," Sting grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And it's not just my decision. You have a right to do what you want, but you can't just put yourself in harm's way. It's not safe."

"Nothing guild members do is safe," she seethed, thinking back to that house. If that was the tip of the iceberg, she feared to think what else happened to the captured girls. "And I don't need yours or anyone else's permission. This is something I'm doing."

"You're not," he snapped back, stepping forward. His eyes were darker, cutting through her again. "I'm not going to let you do this Lucy."

"Why?" she cried, her voice pitching again. It echoed off the high ceilings of Sabertooth, but she didn't let the noise bother her. "You can't tell me what to do!"

Something flashed behind his eyes and Sting took a step back, looking troubled. He ran a hand through his hair several times before meeting her eyes again, already walking towards the steps. "Come with me."

Lucy stilled, watching him shove past her. Her eyes followed his retreating form as he climbed to the third floor, unsure what to make of that. She hesitated a moment before Rogue broke the silence, causing her to jump.

"You should probably follow him. You won't like what he has to say though."

Frowning, she wondered why he bothered saying that. It wasn't the most convincing thing to say to convince her to follow the man. Still, she wondered what he wanted to discuss that was now too secretive to scream about in front of the guild. What difference did it make anyway? Everyone already knew why she was there.

A blush burned her cheeks, humiliation hitting her full force. She didn't want everyone in the guild knowing she was so easily defeated, much less what exactly happened. At least most of the members weren't privy to all the details.

Sucking in a breath, she turned and dashed after Sting, deciding she'd rather know than not. Even if he was just going to argue with her again, it was better than standing there while everyone else stared at her with mild interest. When she reached the third floor she found that he had waited for her, his arms crossed tight over his chest.

"Come on," he grumbled, sounding weary. "We can talk in my office."

"What is this about?" she asked, one step behind them as they walked. "Is it about my mission?"

"More or less," he replied, refusing to look back at her. "It might make you rethink the idea."

"I'm _not_ backing down," she snapped, even though the flashes of memory still left her shaking. She clenched her hands, thankful Sting was refusing to look at her. "I won't leave innocent people to suffer."

"You definitely sound like a Fairy," Sting agreed, opening the door to his office. He didn't say anything else, stalking across the space to sit on one of the two chairs in front of the windows instead of behind his desk. Lucy watched him, hesitating a moment before she pushed the door nearly closed.

She couldn't make herself latch it shut, her fingers shaking when she pulled away. She wouldn't say she was afraid of Sting, but after the last two days everything made her skin tingle with fear.

"You can't go on a mission to look for them," Sting continued, filling the space when she grew quiet. Lucy stood in the middle of the room between his desk and the window, unsure if she wanted to approach. "Not yet."

"You can't tell me-"

"They didn't arrest Everlue and his fucking men," he seethed, interrupting what she was going to say. Lucy froze, the air seeming to disappear from her lungs at the realization. She thought at the very least they would've been caught, but it seemed luck wasn't on her side.

Her hands started to tremble again, even though they were clenched together. Lucy felt her lip quiver as the slight sense of security she did have fell away, making her feel vulnerable all over again.

"W… what do you mean?" she asked, stumbling into the chair in front of his desk. She nearly tipped it over in her haste, missing the way Sting's eyes stayed on her. She didn't notice how tense he was, the set of his shoulders and hands never once relaxing. "I-I thought we beat them."

"We did," he ground out, trying and failing to keep the edge out of his voice. "Somehow they escaped between the time we left and the royal army showed. Apparently they killed one of their own too."

Lucy's heart skipped a beat, thinking back to that god awful man Nigel. It would be too easy for him to be the one that died. "D-do you know who?"

"No fucking idea," he snapped, angling his eyes away. "Rogue got the report but it didn't give a name. It definitely wasn't _Everlue_."

Lucy nodded, the movement jerky. She clenched her hands over her knees, trying to keep herself from panicking. Inside the guild's walls she shouldn't have anything to worry about.

But that made her a prisoner, trapped so long as she wanted the blanket of security. Once she left there was no telling what might happen.

"That's why you're not doing anything else regarding that mission," he spat, drawing her attention again. "They're still out there, and they will have a vendetta against you now. Both of us. But they can't hurt me the same way they can you."

She tensed, hating the reality of his words. If Everlue, Nigel and the other man were arrested, that would evaporate some of her fears. They were the stars of her nightmares, not these other faceless fools she hadn't encountered.

The very idea of facing them almost had her throwing up, but she swallowed the feeling. If she showed Sting how scared she was he wouldn't let it go.

"I-I still want to do it," she whispered, lifting her gaze to meet his eyes. Clearly her words surprised him, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. "I need to help those other girls. They are _suffering-_ "

"You're suffering," Sting pointed out, tilting his head. His eyes were slitted, and she realized there was a storm of anger brewing there, barely contained by his gaze. "You wouldn't be able to help anyone until you yourself are better."

"That's going to take too long," she muttered, dropping her eyes again. "We can't just wait forever. I'm the one with a full-blown experience to go off of. I know what they wanted."

"We all know what they wanted," he snarled. "It's obvious, and it's an even better reason why you shouldn't be involved."

Lucy didn't raise her head again for several moments, and it gave Sting time to look her over. He knew telling her about Everlue would mentally wreck her, and if she wasn't so damned determined to literally run back into the face of danger he probably would've waited a few more days. But she was too headstrong, and he needed her to realize why he wasn't budging on the topic.

Finding her that way once was more than enough. He couldn't stomach the idea of her being hurt again, going right back into the fray to maybe help out some people she had never met. No, he wouldn't do it.

He couldn't. He'd probably snap if she tried to take off and handle it herself. This matter was well beyond them.

As she collected herself, it gave him a moment to assess her. He'd been studying her in the hall this morning, having left in the middle of the night while she slept. He didn't want her waking up later and panicking that he was there. He hadn't gotten to talk to her since, only looking from afar to see how she was doing.

It didn't take a genius to realize she was putting on a show. She flinched anytime someone walked behind her in the room. Her body shook involuntarily, and he'd noticed the way her eyes skitted around like she was looking for another attack.

If that wasn't enough, the maiden Virgo already told him what he needed to know she was lying, even to herself.

" _Thank you for helping princess."_

 _Sting blinked in the dark, his arm tightening briefly around Lucy's sleeping form before letting go. He eased her off his arm, eyes trained on the pink haired spirit as he detached himself, mindful to not wake the blonde woman up._

" _Just a nightmare," he grumbled, his tone rougher than he meant it to be. He half expected her lion to come out before the maid. Either way, he figured his presence here wouldn't go unnoticed. "It's not fair to let her suffer more."_

" _She'll continue having nightmares," Virgo replied quietly, clasping her hands together. "Memories stay with us forever. Until she can move past what happened she'll continue to suffer in her sleep."_

 _Sting pursed his lips, unsure what he could do about that. He could come in and comfort her each night until she fell into a restful sleep, but that would only work so long as she was at Sabertooth. What would happen when she left?_

 _The idea physically pained him. Despite his confusion over the situation, he was certain he didn't want the beauty beside him to leave. Mentally he couldn't handle the idea, and a much more primal part of him growled internally at the idea._

" _That'll take time," he admitted, rubbing his head. "They fucked with her pretty bad."_

 _He couldn't help it; the bite in his tone slipped in. Sting didn't think he was that internally pissed about the whole thing, but apparently he harbored more hatred than he was acknowledging._

 _Virgo nodded, wandering slowly around the room. "Princess is strong. She will recover, but she's going to do it too quickly. Lucy rarely takes the proper time to come to terms with what's happened to her."_

 _Sting frowned. "What do you mean?"_

 _Shrugging, the maid ran a finger along one of the frames in the room. Sting was a little embarrassed to see that it came away dusty. "Princess is often targeted, and she sometimes throws herself into these dangerous situations. Her heart is always in the right place though."_

 _He wasn't exactly sure how that related to last night, but didn't push the subject. "So she's been hurt before, we all have. Are you saying she doesn't cope?"_

" _She won't spend the extra time on herself if she thinks she can help others," Virgo explained, giving the woman a tender smile. "Did you mean what you said?"_

" _What?"_

 _Virgo blinked, stepping closer to him. "Did you mean what you said? You'd never let those men hurt her again."_

 _A blush blossomed on his cheeks, and even in the dark room he knew the spirit could see it. "I- uh, you heard that?"_

" _We were listening," she replied with a nod. "Big brother wanted us to. With princess going through something so traumatic, we aren't taking any chances. We had to make sure nothing happened to her while she slept."_

 _Well, he felt marginally better that someone always had their eyes on Lucy when he wasn't around. Her spirits were bound to her and would do anything to ensure her safety. They would've done more earlier if that damn Rustyrose hadn't gotten in the way earlier._

 _Sting cleared his throat before speaking again. "Uh well, yes. I promised Lucy I wouldn't let anything happen to her and I met it. If those bastards ever come near her again I'll rip their heads off."_

 _Virgo smiled despite his words, moving until she was crouched beside Lucy, gently brushing her brow. "She's strong you know, really strong. But people take advantage when they see beautiful things. It's a fact of life. Princess is always in extra danger because people see other uses for her than simply battle."_

 _He growled, his eyebrows shooting up immediately after. What the hell was_ that _?_

 _But the maiden didn't look surprised, a coy smile pulling at her lips. "You do care for our Lucy, don't you?"_

" _I… I don't know. I haven't spent a lot of time with her."_

" _But you have," Virgo argued, tilting her head to the side. "You saw her in Crocus with Natsu, and when she came here on the job. You've been around a lot lately."_

" _I wouldn't say a lot."_

 _Pursing her lips, she hesitated before speaking again. "Big brother knows you've been watching her since Natsu tried to mark her."_

 _Groaning, he leaned back into the wall. This was not a path they needed to go down again. "Yes, yes, yes. We've already talked about this."_

" _But he thinks it's strange how you react," Virgo continued, her eyes focused on his own. "You were a little protective."_

" _I was not!"_

 _She clicked her tongue, looking unconvinced. "You would've killed Everlue and his men if you had the chance. We could see it in your eyes. Loke says it's unusual for anyone, even a dragon slayer, to be able to find someone under such strange circumstances, even with such a strong sense of smell."_

" _I-"_

" _I used to work for Everlue," she continued, speaking right over him. "He had my key at one point, and due to his taste in women he had me take another form to please him." Her eyes flashed, fingers suddenly gripping the bedsheets. "He said the most awful things to princess."_

 _Sting tensed, not liking where the conversation was going. "What things?"_

 _Virgo shook her head, seemingly done sharing. "You must ask princess yourself. Some things I can't share on her behalf. She might already punish me for what I've said so far."_

" _Punish?"_

" _Yes. I always ask princess to punish me if I've been bad."_

 _Blinking, he decided it was probably better to skip over that entirely. "Did… did he say bad things about her?"_

" _I told you, I can't explain this. She must do it in her own time. When she is ready to share with you, maybe you'll be able to help her see past it. Right now she is not there quite yet."_

" _Uh… right. When did she tell you these things?"_

" _Before she passed out," Virgo mused, brushing back the blonde's hair again. "Right before princess_ demanded _I find her something more covering to wear."_

 _A frown pulled at his lips, enjoying the conversation less and less. "Why are you telling me all of this?"_

 _Turning her attention back to him again, the pink haired maiden frowned. "Isn't it obvious? Big brother believes princess is your mate, and if that's true then you need to be prepared."_

Lucy's spirit was the second one to mention _mates_ to him an in twenty four hour time period, and it was seriously beginning to stress him out. He wasn't ready to commit to a mate yet.

Still, he'd made himself not look at her shoulders or neck, instead focusing primarily on her face or not at all. Sting was smart enough to know that if he tried anything right now, even purely out of interest, he'd just end up scaring her more than she already was.

And she didn't need that.

It was on the tip of his tongue to mention Rustyrose got away too but he held back, unsure if she could take any more devastating news right now. Focusing on her face he noticed the way her lips trembled, and was afraid if he said much else the poor girl would end up crying.

"You should focus on your own recovery this week," Sting said, softening his voice when she refused to look up. After a couple seconds she acknowledged him, her eyes peeking up through her hair. "You have to give yourself a break. Even if you did help, you wouldn't be of any use if you have a breakdown."

She nodded, seeming to accept his words. He didn't exactly think it was a good thing that she didn't even argue. He waited a couple moments before standing, cautiously walking back across the room until he leaned against the desk, keeping a couple feet of room between them.

"Do you want to go back downstairs?"

She cringed, almost immediately shaking her head. His lips turned down into a frown, worried by her quick dismissal. Usually, Lucy had a pretty open, bubbly personality.

He hated to think that anything those _men_ did could so easily snuff it out.

"I-I'm kind of tired," she admitted, jumping up from the chair. He watched her war with herself before she turned towards the door, waving over her shoulder. "I just need a nap. I'll be in my room."

"Lucy-" he started, but shut his mouth when the door slammed shut. Her listened to her quick footfalls down the hallway before a door opened, sliding shut just as quickly. Well, at least he knew she was in there and not trying to run out of the guild.

Sitting heavily in his chair, he stared down at the empty desk. The discarded paperwork still lay on the floor, and he knew it would at least be one more day before he could handle looking at it.

With a groan he let his head slam into the desk, wondering how he ever got himself into this situation. He closed his eyes, his conversation with Virgo last night echoing in his head.

He was supposed to help Lucy, but how?

 **A/n: R & R. We'll see more progression in the coming chapters, and the two coming to terms with what being a mate really means. I hope you enjoyed Virgo's meddling too. Until next time.**


	8. Scales

_Pull yourself together._

Lucy ran her fingers under her eyes, collecting the stray tears. Three days passed since her not so successful discussion with Sting, and she thought she was handling things pretty well given the situation.

She only cried at night, which she considered a plus. She was now used to almost waking up and having someone lull her back to sleep. Lucy assumed it was Virgo, because each time she came to later on the maiden was sitting nearby watching her.

Last night though she fully came out of her nightmares, no calming presence there to fight off the demons. Virgo helped her again, but she couldn't yet determine why last night was so different.

Virgo still had yet to say much of anything on the matter, even when she asked.

She also managed to keep herself together around the Sabertooth members during the day, which she considered to be a huge plus. Most of them were friendly, at least the members she was familiar enough with, but she still kept her distance from Minerva. That was not a bridge she could cross at the moment. Yukino and the others were kind enough, and that's all she needed to get through the day.

"It's okay to cry," Virgo reminded, sitting beside her on the lush bed. She had to hand it to Sting; he really gave her the best room possible. If the amazing bed wasn't enough, the room had a wonderful view. "There's no reason to hold it in, princess."

Lucy shot the spirit a look, brushing at her eyes once more. She hadn't meant to pass out, but her nightmares last night kept her awake into the wee hours of the morning. She desperately needed rest, but she much rather would've remained exhausted instead of slipping into her nightmares again.

"Master Sting is coming back this afternoon," Virgo continued, managing to briefly distract Lucy from her memories, her thoughts heading someplace dark once more.

"He's been gone for three hours," Lucy reminded, clearing her throat before speaking again. She shot the spirit a look, wondering why she'd bother bringing this up. They only knew after all because Rufus told them at lunch earlier. "He's not even off the guild grounds. He's outside training."

Smiling, Virgo pulled a handkerchief from who knew where and handed it over to the blonde. "And you're certain you don't want to go participate?"

"Yes, I'm certain."

"It would be good exercise," the spirit pressed, tapping her chin. "Or you could at least sit and observe. Going outside would be good for you. You won't even walk out onto the balcony in Sting's office."

Lucy blushed, thinking of how silly she was two days prior. He hadn't even offered that she follow him exactly, just that the air would be nice and it was sunny –

Flinching, she shoved the memory away again. Why did Sabertooth's foundation have to bear any sort of resemblance to Everlue's home? Maybe she wouldn't constantly have flashbacks if the reminders weren't looming around her all the time. But going outside stirred up other fears inside of her that she was ashamed to admit aloud.

"Princess?"

Blinking, she realized she must've zoned out again. Glancing at Virgo she noted the worried look in her eyes, and it tugged at her heartstrings.

"On second thought," she said, jumping out of the bed, "maybe I will go out for a walk. There isn't really any danger around here. We all know someone can't just walk onto guild property and take a person. Besides, maybe everyone will stop worrying so much if I stretch my legs."

Lucy didn't believe her own words for a moment, but if it would make her friends and her spirits feel better she'd take a chance. Focusing all her attention on the pink haired maiden, she hoped the lie worked.

Virgo hesitated, the maid at a rare loss of words. Rarely did Lucy see such a spectacle, and it reminded her how deeply concerned everyone really was. "Alright, I'll come with-"

"You need to rest," Lucy argued, gently placing a hand on her spirit's shoulder. "I'll be fine here with the Sabertooth members. Sting and Rogue are a small army all by themselves. Please, you shouldn't be coming out so often."

The pinkette hesitated, looking her friend up and down. "Big brother just wants to make sure you are okay. We all feel so awful for what happened-"

"Nonsense!" she cried, eyes widening. "You guys shouldn't feel bad at all! It was no one's fault except my own, and Sting showed up anyway so what difference does it make now? I survived and I'm recovering just fine. Now please, go rest."

"If you want I can sent out Capricorn-"

"I'm really okay!" she gasped, waving her hands around. "You all need a break. Please, you know I wouldn't send you away for no good reason. One of you can come and check on me tonight, okay?"

Virgo relented, giving Lucy a gentle smile. "Alright Princess. Perhaps there will be punishment later since I didn't listen?"

Feeling a vein bulging in her head, she resisted the urge to snap. "Maybe."

Pleased, the spirit finally disappeared in a faint mist with a brief wave. Once she was gone Lucy's body sagged back onto the bed, the weight of the last five days setting in. She knew her spirits meant well by trying to protect her, but it was exhausting to keep up appearances all the time.

If she was alone, even if only for a few minutes, she could let the raw emotions spill out.

Dropping her head to her hands, she attempted to find something calming to soothe her frazzled nerves. Unfortunately she hadn't had anything too comforting happen since she set out on this damned mission, and the only communication she had with Magnolia was yesterday when her friends called her on one of the guild's lacrima.

There was a conversation that could not have gone any worse.

" _Lucy, you seem pale," Erza said, her first few words holding back none of her displeasure. "Are you eating after your ordeal?"_

" _L-let's not call it an ordeal," she stammered, thinking how much worse that made everything sound. "I'm okay, healing-"_

" _Luce!" Natsu cried, trying to shove his way into her line of view. "Who did it? Who the hell hurt you? I'm all fired up! I'll beat-"_

 _Lucy blinked, watching a hand suddenly shove Natsu's pink locks out of the way. "Don't mind him," Gray grumbled, "he just got back from his job with Lisanna. He's a little worked up. But seriously Lucy, who-"_

" _You can't just pester her about these things," Erza snapped, tilting her head so Lucy could see one eye again. "She doesn't want to think about it! Lucy, you don't need to answer these morons. Master Makarov already relayed everything Sting told us."_

" _Uh, about that-" Lucy began._

" _But know that we will go after the man Everlue," Erza continued, managing to shove Gray out of the way once more. "Lucy, we won't rest until he pays for what he has done!"_

" _Right, but-"_

" _I want to see Lucy!" Happy cried, his head appearing at the top of the image as he peered down. "Well you don't look bad."_

" _Well, thanks-"_

" _I told Natsu you wouldn't look different," the cat continued, shaking his head. "He was sure-"_

" _Happy, stop!" Natsu cried, the exceed disappearing again. The voices were too far for Lucy to make much out. She strained her ears to hear what was happening to no avail._

" _We're already planning to go looking," Gray continued, one eyebrow popping up as he glanced above the lacrima. "The guilds haven't forbidden any searching yet, so we've set up a search party to look for this bastard. How dare he hurt you?"_

" _We've already come up with some fitting punishments should we find him," Erza continued, crossing her arms with a pleased nod. "You have nothing to worry about."_

" _I'm not worried about being attacked here," Lucy stressed, gripping the lacrima a little tighter. "They won't up and attack an entire guild if this operation is supposed to be on the down low. I'll be fine so long as I don't leave Sabertooth."_

" _About that," Natsu interjected, the tips of his pink hair floating into the screen again. "When are you planning on coming back?"_

 _She blinked, surprised. She'd run from Fairy Tail so quickly when Natsu's new potential relationship started suffocating her that she hadn't put a lot of real thought into how he'd feel about things._

" _I-I don't know, "she admitted, feeling her shoulders sag. "Master Makarov and Sting think I need to wait a week-"_

" _A week!?" Natsu cried, half of his face appearing on one side of the screen. "That's crazy! You should be here with your friends, healing." He wrinkled his nose, leaning a little closer. "Unless you want to stay with Sting?"_

 _Lucy blushed, the color traveling from her forehead to her chest. "What?! Why would you assume that? T-that's crazy!"_

 _Looking unconvinced, her teammates all froze and stared at her, different levels of confusion mirrored in their eyes. Several moments passed before Erza cleared her throat and tried again._

" _Uh… well, when do you plan to come home? By the end of the week then?"_

 _Refusing to bite her lip, Lucy hesitated a moment too long. "I… haven't decided yet."_

She wanted to groan at her own stupidity. Why, why would she say something like that? Her friends were obviously concerned, and her inability to give them a real answer before ending the transmission did nothing to deter their worries.

She couldn't exactly tell them that she planned to go find Everlue herself. No one was going to trust her to face him after her experience, and Sting already proved that he wouldn't listen to her reasons, so this was a battle she'd have to face alone.

Forcing back a gulp, she glanced at the keys on her hip. They could all tell when her emotions were haywire, but she needed to keep her spirits out of the loop. If they found out one of them would surely tattle, and she didn't need that. Once she was well on her way there was nothing they could do to stop her, and that was all she needed.

Fisting her hands together, she swallowed down her worry. She'd find a way to save the other girls who fell prey to Everlue's plans. She just had to.

* * *

Sting glanced up at the end of his practice, marginally surprised Lucy decided to show up twenty minutes ago.

Okay, extremely surprised she decided to. He still witnessed her nightmares in the middle of the night, and her cries and have delirious ramblings revealed her fear of the outdoors. He figured she wouldn't brave the outside for a few more days.

Clearly he was wrong.

"Blondie," he greeted, stuffing his hands down into his pockets as he approached her. The trousers were lower on his hips than he typically wore them, his workout with several of his guild mates leaving him sweaty and spent. He suppressed a smirk when he noted the way her eyes took him in, checking him out from head to toe from her position by the wall.

Not that he minded. Of all the girls that checked him out Lucy was one he definitely didn't mind having the attention of.

"Other blondie," she replied, leaning a little heavier on the wall. He observed her body language, the way her smell took on the faintest air of fear as he approached. Deciding to not push his luck he stopped a couple paces away, ignoring her jibe.

"Decide it was finally time to get some fresh air?" he continued, tilting his head. He'd tried to keep his distance the past few days, other than his nightly visits to her room to stop her screaming. Thankfully he didn't think she had any idea that he was the one helping out.

She nodded, and he wished she'd make a jab back at him. He missed the light banter they shared even a few weeks ago in Crocus, their jabs something witty and enjoyable. Now most of the time he spoke to her she looked like she was lost in thought.

Dazed, he let his eyes travel against his will. He'd been ignoring Rogue and Virgo's not so subtle hints about Heartfilia for days now, but that didn't mean he was ignorant. The more people pointed things out, the more terrifyingly clear it became to Sting.

They had _a lot_ of traits of mates. He still couldn't stomach the idea that she might be his mate, and so far he'd decided to push the idea to the back of his mind while she remained in the healing stages. If he freaked her out acting rashly he'd not only have the wrath of Fairy Tail to deal with, but the rage of all her damn spirits, and Rogue's irritating disappointment.

It didn't matter what anyone or anything told him. They weren't mates; he was compelled to help her because of the situations they found themselves in leading to this point. It had nothing to do with a lifelong bond neither was committed to.

"Sting?" she asked, her voice slicing through his train of thought.

"Hmm?"

Adverting her gaze, she cleared her throat not once but twice before speaking again. "Um, I get to leave in three days, right? Today is my fourth day here since... since you found me."

Sting felt his heart clench, unwilling to discuss that reality. He really didn't want to focus on the idea that Lucy intended on leaving in a few short days. The week was half over, today being her fourth official day with Sabertooth. The agreement was only for one week of recovery; he had no right to keep her there longer even if he thought it would be helpful.

She wasn't a member of his guild.

"Yeah," he grumbled, clenching his hands in his pockets. "I assume someone will meet you for the journey back?"

Lucy's brows drew together, and she stood a little taller beside him. "Why? I'm perfectly capable of keeping myself safe."

He _really_ wanted to debate that point but bit his tongue, knowing the argument was useless right now. It would just rile they both of them up anyway. "That's crazy. You're going to be a target and running around between here and Magnolia alone is suicide."

"I'll have my spirits," she snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"It doesn't matter! You lose the keys and it's game over. Tell me you're ready to face your demons right now-"

"I can fight without my keys!" she screamed, balling up her hands. Sting didn't miss the way they slightly shook, or the sudden aroma of fear that swept over her. "I can fight! I'm strong! And I know I can save myself!"

He hesitated, fighting down the overwhelming sense of protection he felt for her. Lucy might be strong and resilient, but he'd seen firsthand that she could shatter into pieces if pushed far enough.

It was too soon. She was pushing, and there was no real reason why she should want to walk her happy ass back to Fairy Tail on her own. She had plenty of friends who were more than willing to help her out, so why was she fighting it so much?

"Lucy-"

"You know what?" she cut in, her voice barely wavering beneath the anger in her tone. He could still faintly make it out, and it made him wonder how hard it was for her to keep together. "I'm sick of every god damn villain who's ever crossed my path thinking I'm some weak girl! I'm a celestial wizard! I have ten zodiac keys and I can use Urano Metria! What makes me so weak? Why am I everyone's favorite target?"

Sting blinked, watching Lucy beginning to unravel. She'd been in a somewhat similar state the first time she visited his office, but this was different. There was determination laced between the pain, a half crazed look in her eyes as she listed off her abilities.

It was like she wanted to prove something, to him or to herself he wasn't completely sure. Either way, it worried him. She was powerful, but she wasn't in a good state of mind to be tapping into those abilities.

"I have no idea," he said quietly, forcing his hands slowly out of his pockets. He watched the way her eye twitched, like she wasn't certain if she should just stand there or run. He let his hands drop to his sides, trying and failing to catch her eyes with his. "I'm sure no one will make the same mistake next time. But Lucy-"

"I know," she grumbled, suddenly turning away from him, "you think I'm pushing too much. You have the same look in your eyes _everyone_ else always does." She turned back briefly, making air quotes with her fingers. "They all think _'Lucy needs to be protected'_ even when no one says it out loud. I'm just a beacon to danger."

"Uh-"

"But I can handle myself," she continued determinedly, briefly looking his way again. "And I'm going to, Sting. I promised one week, nothing more. In three days I'm leaving."

"Back to Fairy Tail, right?" he pressed, already picking up on her mood. There was something she was refusing to say.

Lucy's lip twitched, but it was the only betrayal of her behavior. "Yeah."

He wanted to ask her more, but she didn't give him a chance. Quickly she turned back to the guild hall, hands fisted down at her sides as she quickly paced away. She would not turn back, not even when Sting called out to her.

There was definitely something she wasn't saying, and Sting had a fairly good idea what it was.

* * *

" _You're being irrational."_

 _Lucy blinked, looking around. She was in Sabertooth, but the hall looked odd. There wasn't a soul in sight, something she hadn't witnessed in her days since arriving. Swiveling her head she tried to spot to source of that voice, but couldn't seem to locate it._

 _It was definitely Sting's._

" _Running off won't fix anything. You'll just get hurt again."_

 _She frowned. That wasn't Sting this time. It was one of the men from Everlue's, which sent chills down her spine. She couldn't figure out which man in her haze, turning sluggishly in circles around the hall. All she wanted was to find the source of the voice._

 _Lucy froze when a figure appeared at the end of the guild hall, grinning at her. Her brain panicked as she stared at the face of Nigel, his smirk widening as he stared her down. "Why don't we pick up where we left off?"_

She gasped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, jerking up with a scream. She struck out blindly in the sudden darkness, one hand connecting with something solid as the other followed suit. She screamed, smacking wildly at the obstacle before her.

She would _not_ go back, not with Nigel or Everlue or anything. They'd have to kill her before she gave in. They'd –

"-y! Lucy!"

She barely recognized the voice in the dark, screaming right back with her. After another smack a light appeared, causing Lucy to stumble back. She cried out as she fell off the other side of the bed, her limbs shaky as she backed away.

The figure didn't move. In the darkness it took her eyes several moments to adjust to the obtrusive light, and only then did she realize it was Sting facing her.

Lucy let out an audible sigh, eyes widening as she realized there were tears in her eyes. She held out a shaking hand as though to fend him off, though she wasn't certain that's what she wanted to do.

Sting tilted his head to the side, remaining on the opposite side of the bed. He waited a couple moments before speaking in the dark, his features shadowed in the limited light. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Blinking, it took her a moment to realize he was asking about her fall. She shook her head, shoulders relaxing a little. Of _course_ Sting didn't mean her any harm. Why would he?

He nodded, letting the light in his hand grow. Only then did she realize he was keeping it dim until she adjusted. "I… sorry. You were screaming and I couldn't wake you up. I didn't mean to scare you more."

"I-it's okay," she replied, surprised he was apologizing. "It's not your fault. Um, thank you. For waking me up I mean."

Sting didn't say anything, and she slowly realized he was waiting for her to break down. Under different circumstances she might be offended, but she knew his dragon senses would smell the salt from her unshed tears in the air and be able to feel her fear. Clenching her hands together she took a couple deep breaths, trying and failing to calm her speeding heart.

She was so _pathetic_. All that big talk about taking care of herself the past few days and she couldn't even take her nightmares.

"Don't cry," he continued, sounding alarmed as a few stray tears fell. He stiffened, and Lucy had only seen him so uncomfortable one other time. "Please, don't. What they did isn't worth the tears."

Pressing her lips together she considered arguing, but knew she couldn't hold herself together that long. As she attempted to take another breath a sob escaped, and that was the end of her self-control. A second and third slipped out, and before she knew it she was crying.

Sting did something she couldn't see, the lighting in the room suddenly flicking on. He let the magic in his hand dissipate as he approached, mindful to keep some distance between them.

Lucy was momentarily distracted from her distress as she took in his appearance. Sting's outward calmness was a sham. In the light she could make out bits of white scales forming on his skin, his gaze steely as he approached. When he reached out to her she noted that the rest of his skin seemed to be scale free, but that didn't stop her from speaking before he could touch her.

Pointing to his face, she began, "what-"

"Happens sometimes," he said, retracting his fingers. "Don't worry about it."

Lucy let it go, deciding she didn't want to worry about that right now anyway. She expected to dissolve back into tears again but it didn't happen, her surprise from seeing Sting's appearance having stifled the remainder of her fears for the time being. Taking a deep breath, she focused on him again.

The scales were slowly receding back into his skin the longer he stood there. Strange.

"W-why does it happen?" she asked, deciding she'd much rather keep focusing on him if it calmed her down. Sting looked startled, choosing to lean awkwardly against the wall as he took in her question.

"Depends," he replied, dodging the answer. "It's not really something I can control. Come on, please get off the floor. You'll be more comfortable if you get back in bed."

Lucy glanced towards the bed, making no move to get up. She didn't exactly feel afraid, having been in a much worse situation with Sting around before.

She was more afraid of what the bed made her _think_ about.

"I-I'd rather not," she admitted, ignoring the way his eyebrows rose. "Um, I'd rather sit down here a while longer."

He blinked. "Does that help or something?"

Almost smiling, she shook her head. "Not really."

Sting huffed, bouncing his shoulder against the wall before he moved. He wasn't all that quick, but after a couple moments he came to sit beside her on the floor, scooting back until he hit the wall, stretching out his legs.

He remained quiet for a moment before speaking. "This isn't that comfortable."

Lucy laughed, enjoying how he changed the tone of the conversation so quickly. "I guess not."

Nodding along, he waited before speaking again. "Do you wanna tell me something?"

Drawing her knees up in front of her, she leaned carefully back into the side of the bed. "It depends what you want to know."

He smirked, adjusting against the wall, the light still gently glowing in his hand. "I figured you'd say that." He cleared his throat, glancing away from her before beginning. "Why do you want to go after Everlue so badly?"

She flinched at the question, eyes widening as she stared. "I told you already. I have to help those girls."

"And you think you can do it right now?"

Lifting her chin, she nodded. "Yes. I have to. Waiting is a waste. Who knows what could happen, and who else could get captured." She screwed up her face, feeling the sense of panic rising again. "You don't understand what it's like feeling so _helpless_."

He frowned. "You just told me earlier how powerful you can be."

"That's when I'm prepared," she stressed, glaring at him. "I got careless and look where I ended up. If I went back, if I face those monsters, they will see I'm not so easy to beat."

"But-"

"I'm tired," she continued, practically jumping up off the floor. "It's late. I'm sorry I woke you."

She turned away before he could say anything, afraid of letting anything else slip. Everyone around her was suffocating her, trying to keep her safe while she 'healed'. But Lucy didn't believe a week or even a month would help to make her feel better. It would take time, and she refused to wait around for her mind to stop freaking out.

Would she tell Sting that though? _No_. Talk about setting off an alarm.

After a couple moments she heard him get up, the light in the room flickering as he moved. She forced herself to sit back down on the bed, giving him a fake smile when he focused on her again.

"You should get better at lying," he said, glancing at her as he passed. "You're too easy to read."

Lucy felt her jaw drop a little, appalled that he picked up on it so easily. Instead she went on the defensive, jumping up off the bed again despite being exhausted. "I'm not lying!"

"Sure, sure," he agreed, smirking when he flicked on the light. She blinked at the assaulting brightness, noting that Sting finally let his magic fade now that the space was properly lit.

"I'm not," she defended again, narrowing her eyes. "Why would I?"

"Because you think no one notices," he replied, winking. "You already told me how you really feel."

"I-"

"You should get some sleep!" h continued, throwing open the door as he left, "you aren't as fun to argue with when you're tired!"

Lucy gaped, jumping up to follow him out the door. "Hey! I'm not done!"

"I thought you were tired?" he called back, waving over his shoulder as he slipped into the shadows. "Go to sleep!"

"Sting!"

And just as the blond rounded the corner another door swung open, Sting's laughter suddenly filling the hallway at the sound. Lucy's eyes widened, taking in Rogue's murderous look as he glared one way down the hall then the other. "Would you two just shut up?!"

 **A/n: I don't know if I'm totally happy with the chapter, but here it is. We'll see some new drama up next!**


	9. A S-Class Mission

Lucy bounced on the balls of her feet, knowing what she was about to do would cause an argument no matter how she went about it. Sting would fight her tooth and nail over this just like her friends, her spirits, everyone.

No one thought she could handle it. No one believed she was ready to go face Everlue and his accomplices, no one thought she could handle it.

Granted, when she chatted with her friends this morning, they were none the wiser about her state of undress, so they didn't fully understand the gravity of the situation. Hell, Natsu still wanted to meet up with her so they could go on a job before heading back to the guild.

Lucy couldn't help it. Her heart jerked at the thought of Natsu. That dork didn't realize his actions pushed her to leave the guild, her emotions torn in two after basically handing him off to his old childhood friend.

She might not be his mate, but that didn't mean jealousy didn't exist inside. Natsu always gave her special attention before he started really _talking_ with Lisanna.

It was her own fault, and if she kept dwelling on it she'd end up in a never-ending circle of self-pity, and she didn't want that. She wanted to move on, let Natsu be happy with someone who could return his affections, and get on with life.

But she couldn't. Everytime Natsu floated through her mind, she remembered that he was the reason she took that god-forsaken job, hoping to put space between them for a couple days. It wasn't his fault that she was now jealous of her own actions, wondering why she didn't postpone her brazen actions and wait a couple more weeks to burst his bubble.

If this played out differently, if she hadn't spoken up so soon, if she'd tried to return Natsu's feelings, really tried, it may have ended up differently. Maybe she wouldn't have run into Everlue and there wouldn't be a crushing weight over her head.

If, if, if…

"Lucy?" Yukino asked, jolting her right out of her thoughts. She hadn't meant to get lost in her own head, but thinking about Natsu brought up too many conflicting emotions, many of which she wasn't facing in a healthy manner.

She didn't want to face them right now, and she definitely didn't want Natsu to attempt to trek from Magnolia all the way over to Sabertooth to pick her up. It was cause an even bigger eternal war, not to mention the rift it would surely create not only between Natsu and Lisanna, but Lucy and the pair as well.

It was just so complicated, and it was a major problem she'd done well to ignore the last week.

Feigning a smile, she turned and faced the other mage. She'd been bouncing on her feet outside Sting's door for twenty minutes now, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts. Going in would just cause one more issue to sprout up, and she had enough dancing around in her head as it was. "Oh, hey!"

Yukino didn't buy her fake excitement, crossing her arms as an eyebrow sprung up. "Lucy, what are you doing?"

"I just need to talk to Sting for a minute."

The white haired girl frowned, glancing both ways done the hall. "I've been standing here waiting for you to notice me for at least two minutes and you didn't blink. Aren't you going to go in?"

"Oh, I don't want to interrupt."

Still unconvinced, Yukino pouted. "Trust me, you won't. He's probably trying to do paperwork, and badly might I add. He'll probably be happier than he should be about the distraction."

Lucy felt one of her eyebrows trying to pull upward, interested to see what kind of mess Sting could create in his office. Her amusement disappeared as soon as she recalled why she was there, however. "Did you need to see him?"

Waving a hand, Yukino gave her a gentle smile. "I'm here to steal Frosch."

Blinking, she tried to figure out if she'd heard the celestial mage correctly. "What?"

"Oh, Rogue thinks the cookies I make are bad for him," she explained, winking. "But Frosch just loves them, and he gives me such a pouty face if I don't give him at least once. They're fresh right now; it's the best time to have one. I'm just here to grab the little guy."

Unable to hold back her interest, Lucy let out a real smile. "Isn't Rogue kind of protective of him?"

"Oh, and Lector. It's a whole experience. But if it's just Lector, it's pretty easy to convince him to come downstairs too and have one. Rogue's the only one who causes a fuss."

"Over a cookie?" Lucy repeated, the absurdity of it all sparking in her eyes. Imagining that adorable exceed munching on a snack was almost too much to handle.

Laughing, Yukino nodded as she slipped past. "Yeah, he's afraid I'll fatter Frosch up." Sending Lucy one last wink, she turned and waved over her shoulder, "when you finish in there, come have one! They don't last long."

Lucy smiled, watching until Yukino disappeared into Rogue's room just down the hall – without knocking. Shaking her head she turned back to Sting's office door, deciding she'd have to take the girl up on her offer when she was finished.

For now, she had a dam to break, and she already knew Sting was going to throw a fit. Knocking, she waited to hear a reply from the other side of the door.

Many moments passed before the buffoon decided to say anything. "Uh, come in."

Pushing open the door, Lucy found herself less surprised than she should've been that Sting's office was an absolute disaster. The last time she was there everything was stacked in nice – if not disorderly – piles, and he appeared to be in the process of trying to make sense of them. Paper was strewn across the whole of the office, except for a small circle around both the door and Sting's desk, where he stood glaring at several pages.

Glancing up, he frowned. "You didn't have to knock. I knew you were out there."

Right, dragon senses and all. Clearing her throat, she wondered if he'd also bring up how long she stood out there like a dummy. "Okay, sure. What exactly are you doing?"

"Paperwork."

"By… covering the office?"

"I haven't gotten around to _filing_ yet."

Eyes bulging, she glanced at what appeared to be the one file cabinet in the entire space. It was open, and terrifyingly empty. Sweeping her eyes around the room again, she realized he may very well have emptied the damn thing into his office, and was dealing with the aftermath. "Uh-"

Sting held up a hand, his gaze once again focused on the mess of paper. "Shh, don't ask. There's a system."

"Really?"

"Well, I'm in process of making a system, sort of."

Believing that a little bit more Lucy relented, scooting over until she could reach one of the three chairs in the room, shoving some of the paper over near different haphazard stacks before tentatively sitting down. He didn't even glance up, his brow knit together as he attempted to look in control.

"Um… Sting?"

"Mmm?"

She sighed, realizing he wasn't going to pay her any attention unless she cut straight to the point. "I'm leaving tomorrow, and I just wanted to say thanks."

That got his attention, his head snapping up, his slitted eyes almost glaring a hole into her head. "You know I don't think it's a good idea."

"You and everyone else," she ground out, balling up her hands. "But it's my decision."

Sting frowned, standing a little bit straighter so he could slide his hands into his pockets. "And you're going back to the guild?"

Lucy pressed her lips together, well aware that he was going to ask that question. "Mhmm."

"That doesn't sound like much of an answer."

"I don't owe you one," she snapped, narrowing her eyes. "I wanted to make sure I said thank you for-"

"Saving your ass?"

Her scowl deepened. "For being hospitable. You didn't have to do any of the things you did and I'm grateful for it."

Sting didn't say anything, holding back a reply for many moments. "Promise me you aren't going after that man Everlue by yourself."

She flinched, silently berating herself for letting a name have so much power over her psyche. He didn't miss her reaction, his eyes narrowing still. "It doesn't matter what happens once I leave Sabertooth."

"Yes it does," he ground out, stomping on the papers to approach her. "If you leave and don't return back to Fairy Tail safely your friends will freak out. They will come here first wanting answers."

"And you have no reason to hide anything because you won't be doing anything wrong," she reasoned.

"They'll find out what happened," he argued, arching an eyebrow. Sting stopped several paces away, apparently unsure if he should get any closer. "If fairies show up and try busting down our front door I'm going to be straight with them about everything, whether or not you like it."

Lucy's expression slipped away, imagining the hurt her friends would feel if they found out something terrible happened to her, and from the mouth of a Saber no less. They'd be angry, but they'd be hurt by Lucy too if they learned she was hurt and didn't think she could be truthful with them.

Gulping, she swallowed down the guilt. He couldn't change her mind; she wouldn't let him. This was something she just had to do. "Those are my secrets! You don't have a right!"

Sting scowled, turning away. "I can't lie to save face forever. If you keep throwing yourself into dangerous situations I have to tell the truth."

"Then pretend you don't know," she said quietly.

"I can't do that," he snapped, eyes glaring at her once more. "You can't keep doing this to yourself, Lucy. Danger shouldn't be your middle name."

Jumping up from the chair, she met the intensity of his eyes head on. "It's not! I can't just sit around while other girls _like me_ are in danger."

"Then let someone else-"

"No," she ground out, turning from him. "I want to do this. I will do this. Those girls are just like me; people that everyone sells short and believes can't save themselves." She snorted, feeling the pinpricks of tears in her eyes. "You have no idea how often my skills are cut short. How many jobs do you think I've gone on with Natsu were we get equal credit? Unless it's reading something, everyone assumes he does all the work, no matter what part I play! That's how those others girls are looked at; like decoration without a true purpose."

"Lucy-"

Glancing over her shoulder, she glared at him. "I'm going to save them. _Me_. And if someone wants to help they can, but I want to do this. I can't just walk away and let someone else handle it Sting! I've told you before, these are my demons too."

He began to say something but she held up a hand, knowing he wanted to shoot her down once again. "Thank you for opening up your guild and letting me heal. I'll be okay now. I already told my team I'd find my way home."

"And what excuse do you have for why you're not going to show?" he snapped back.

Shrugging, she shifted towards the door again. "I just said I want a couple days to myself on the way."

Sting groaned. "And when those days are up?"

Reaching the door, she shot him one last look over her shoulder. "Then if I'm not home, I guess you better be ready for Fairy Tail to show up."

* * *

Sting knew it was a mistake letting her leave. But she refused to acknowledge that she wasn't yet ready to go searching for Everlue, and nothing he said would change her mind. She was set on going out to find him, even if she hadn't said in so many words.

He knew though, without having to ask. If Virgo wasn't whispering to him the past three days about her plans, Erza was blowing up his lacrima demanding that he do something. Titana offered several times to come and pick Lucy up from the Sabertooth guild, but they both knew the moment she saw Erza she'd run.

The same could be said for Natsu and Gray, who also offered to at the very least meet Lucy halfway (even if Natsu thought she'd walk the entire way back to Magnolia). None of those ideas would work, and they all knew it too.

But Sting had his own personal agenda for what to do with Lucy. She wouldn't listen to him, and if he implied that she couldn't handle herself she'd fly off the handle again. The attack hurt both her pride and confidence, and if he stomped all over it, it would only make matters worse.

That's how he found himself patting Lector goodbye, watching as Lucy wandered down the path away from Sabertooth.

"You do realize she's going to try to kick your ass when she realizes you followed," Rogue droned, sitting in Sting's chair in his office.

"I'm counting on it," he replied, wishing she'd show him the same fire in her eyes as before. Since he'd found her, he hadn't seen those flames. He missed the conversations they had in Crocus, when she'd banter with him just for the hell of it. "I'd feel better if she did."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rogue continued, staring blankly at his friend. "Won't she just be upset that you followed her?"

Sighing, Sting glanced over his shoulder. "She just turned right. Magnolia is in the other direction."

"Maybe she wants to take her time?"

Sting shook his head. "No, she's not, and we all know it. She's dead-set on Everlue."

"So… stalking her out of town is the best idea you've come up with?"

"I'm not stalking her!" he snapped, a little offended that Rogue saw it that way. "I'm going to let her wander for an hour or two and then I'll catch up. If I start out right away she'll know I'm lying, but if I end up finding her in a little bit and mention that she went the wrong way, then I'm concerned."

Rogue didn't look convinced. "That's still lying."

"Well I don't have a better idea," he ground out, crossing his arms. "If I tell her I can't let her go alone she'll sneak off. And I _can't_ let her go alone. She's not yet mentally prepared."

"And that's the only reason you have to follow?" Rogue pressed, spinning in the chair. "There's no other reason?"

Sting frowned, glancing back at his friend. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know," he replied, shrugging. "You're just very protective of her… kind of like a mate would be."

"Not this shit again."

"You can keep denying it all you want Sting, but it doesn't change the reality of it. You've never looked at someone like you do her, and you've definitely never been _this_ protective."

"We're not mates," he scowled, thinking back to three days prior when he woke her up in her bedroom. She'd been screaming their _names_ , and it set him off. He still recalled the anger that surged through him, his need to go and break their necks himself. He'd felt the scales forming on his cheeks, and he knew that was a bad sign.

Even if they could potentially be mates, there was nothing he could do about it right now. If he brought that up he had no idea what it would do to her, especially after the incident with Natsu. Now that Everlue and his goons attacked her too, he couldn't imagine it going well if he brought up something like that.

No, he should keep that fear to himself for the time being. There was still a chance this happened only because he ended up saving her from such a horrific event, and his need to protect her stemmed from nothing more than seeing her in such a vulnerable state. That had to be it.

Rogue shrugged, drawing his attention once more. "You won't be able to fight it much longer. You'll feel compelled to go after Lucy soon enough; it's inherit. Just make sure you tell her what's going on before you make an ass out of yourself."

Sting scowled. " _If_ she is my mate, I'll be sure to."

Someday.

"Whatever. Now how long are you going to be gone, a week? I can't take the headache of doing this job any longer than that."

"Hopefully less," he grumbled. "If I can make her see reason she may just come back with me today."

Rogue started laughing, throwing an arm across his stomach as the laughter took over. "Good luck with that!"

Glancing out the window again, he wondered if he could wait a full hour before checking on her. "Thanks."

* * *

Lucy could feel the vein above her eyebrow twitching, her irritation growing the longer she walked. She knew he'd have a fit when she left, she just hadn't cared enough to change her mind.

Still, following her? Sting needed to take care of his actions. Either he didn't believe in her abilities or he feared having Fairy Tail storm the guild hall in a couple days.

Knowing the young master, probably both.

With Plue by her side, she hadn't felt alone on her journey away from Sabertooth. Still, even her friends hopping and little, satisfied noises as he walked did nothing to deter her ability to hear him following her.

A couple times Lucy paused, wondering _why_ she could hear him following her. She'd never been so adept at listening to her surroundings before, and if she had this skill last week her fights would've ended differently. Honestly the faint noises she picked up on were something she'd never noticed before, and she didn't understand why she was picking up on it now.

At first she hadn't realized Sting was the one following her, but now she was certain. Twice she'd spun around, ready for an attack that never came. That was her first hint that her pursuer wasn't after her with malicious intent.

The second thing that told her Sting was around was this… _feeling_. It was a brisk afternoon, the evening air cooling even more as the sun began to sink away. She'd felt a little exposed when she left Sabertooth earlier, her defeat via Rustyrose and Everlue heaving in her mind.

And then all of a sudden, almost out of nowhere, a sense of calm washed over her. That was the first time she'd acknowledged that someone was traveling behind her, but a sense of foreboding never arrived.

That, more than anything, made her believe it was Sting. The presence behind her carried the same calming air about him that Sting did, and she found it brought a smile to her cheeks that he wanted to make sure she was okay, despite everything.

Finally stopping, she decided she couldn't take it anymore. Didn't he realize it was weird that he'd been behind her for a while and hadn't shown his face? Spinning around Lucy pointed down the path, knowing he wasn't far behind,

"Enoguh already! Come on out Sting!"

Sure enough, the blond man hopped out from behind a couple bushes, pocketing what appeared to be a lacrima as he approached. He held up his hands, not looking nearly as sheepish as she wanted him to.

"Knew it was me, huh?"

"Well no one else would do it!" she fumed, stomping her foot. A smile tugged at his lips as he watched her, which only served to fuel the anger. "I don't remember asking you to come with me, so kindly get lost."

"Harsh."

"I'm serious," she replied, dropping her tone. "I'm going after Everlue, and no one's going to stop me."

Shrugging, he crossed his arms. "Didn't say I was."

Lucy blinked, wondering what kind of freaky trick this was. "What? Why not?"

"Well, obviously, you aren't gonna move on until you go after him, and I'd be a total ass if I let you go alone after everything. So I'm tagging along."

Biting her lip, she looked around. No way, he had to be pulling her leg. At any moment someone else would show up, explaining that it was a lie and Sting would head back to the guild. "Come off it. We both know that's not true. You have a guild to run."

"I have Rogue," he replied, shrugging again. "I convinced him to watch things for me for a couple days so I could go with you."

Lucy sputtered. "A couple days?! You think that's all it'll take?"

"Maybe a week. He complained about it taking longer than that."

Gawking, she couldn't figure out how this moron could manage to run a guild. "So, you think we can take out some dark guild that _sells girls_ in just a couple days."

"Sure."

"Without any useful information to start ourselves in the right direction?"

Nodding again, he threw an arm across her shoulders. Lucy was surprised when she didn't automatically flinch at the contact. "Sure. You're smart, I'm tough. We can take this, piece of cake."

Frowning, she pushed her arm off. "Did you listen to nothing I said!? I have to be the one to beat them. I need them to see I'm not weak!"

Holding up his hands, Sting didn't argue, meeting her eyes with a serious gaze for the first time. "Fine, I'll play backup. But I can't send you off alone blondie, you know that. I won't do any fighting unless you give the word, okay? We'll play by your rules here."

Her mood brightened a bit, wondering how serious he was being. If he gave her the chance and actally stuck to it then her odds were that much better that they could actually find Everlue and the others and take them out!

Besides, he wasn't completely full of it. Havin back up was better than nothing. Things shouldn't go south with both of them on the job.

She just didn't get it. Pressing her lips together, she shook her head. "Why? Why help me?"

"It's important to you."

"But is it important enough to you to leave your guild for a week?"

Shrugging, Sting started down the path again, walking in front of her this time. "Guess so."

* * *

Lucy didn't have to tell Sting where they were going when they reached Crocus, the man following a step or two behind her as they wandered a familiar path. He was a little surprised she was ballsy enough to return to the scene of her defeat on the first day of this quest, but said nothing as she led the way.

He didn't want to deter her, not when she was obviously set on going back. He'd eluded enough of her questions for the time being, and he knew she'd stop for a while now that they were getting into the details of why she was so set in stone about taking this quest on.

Sting didn't ask her much, watching her body language as they walked. She was nervous, and he could smell the fear leaking off her in waves. Going back made her nervous, something he could fault her for.

And she thought she could do all this herself? Her hands were starting to shake and they'd just turned down the street from the job request. If she got frightened dealing with this, he didn't understand how she thought she could stomach whatever horrors awaited them the closer they got to Everlue.

Biting his lip, he reminded himself to remain calm. Lucy appeared none the wiser that he had a personal vendetta against the man in charge and his accomplice, Nigel.

Imaging her going after those men alone had his stomach flipping. He'd let Lucy have her chance at revenge, but he knew he couldn't stand back if one of those men came at her again. He just couldn't.

Sting had to clear his throat when the beginnings of a growl echoed in his throat, surprised by his reaction to the thoughts. Lucy was too far ahead to notice, stopping in place as her head swiveled around. Swallowing down the sudden anger he pressed forward, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets as he paused beside her.

"What do you think you'll find here?" he asked, taking the space in. After a full week the damage to the roofs was repaired, her fight with Rustyrose covered up. If she was looking for clues or telltale signs they would be long gone by now.

She hesitated before speaking. "I'm trying to get a feel for what they go after."

"What?" he asked, frowning. That didn't make sense in his eyes.

"What they look for," she said again, turning in a full circle. "They aren't just kidnapping girls walking around. They are going after mages, people with magic. Some of the girls might be incredibly strong, so they have to be prepared for fights." Shaking her head, she glanced his way. "This area is dead at night. It's a great place to request someone to visit and hope they get caught alone. The streetlights don't work in this section. Whoever posts the actual requests knew this spot would be ideal to hijack someone."

Nodding, Sting nulled it over. It was a little eerie how much of that she picked up in a few short minutes, like she'd been thinking it over for a while. "So?"

"If they post anymore jobs, the location is their M.O.," she explained, watching her gibberish go right over his head. "It's a trademark. A dark, uninhabited area that a seemingly easy job is posted to. From what Everlue said, there's a chance jobs like these are posted to the general public too. People who aren't wizards are more than likely trapped too."

Biting his cheek, Sting refused to say anymore. Lucy turned in the silence, walking down the space like it would help her figure more out. He'd told her last week that this was a job for an S-class mage, not someone like them and _definitely_ not someone who got hurt last time.

If someone caught them pursuing the assailants, they might actually get in trouble. He wasn't sure how much he believed she could figure this out, but one thing was for sure; she couldn't go alone. He'd spend a week making sure no one fucked with her, and hopefully she didn't suffer a mental breakdown in the process.

He cringed, thinking of the last conversation he had with Virgo. She practically begged him to make sure those men never laid a finger on her again. How could he let her walk off after a promise like that?

Studying her movements, he tried to decide if this was one gigantic mistake. She wouldn't stop if they didn't find something, but he couldn't stay away from his guild for too long. Try as he may, he couldn't stomach letting her continue on into danger without him.

If it came to that, he may have to break his promise and tell her friends what really happened. At least it would give them a good enough reason to search Lucy out and keep her safe, even if the blonde flayed him later for giving up one of her secrets.

* * *

"Just one is fine," Lucy grumbled, watching Sting's eyebrows shoot up. The whole day was a waste, and after traveling through most of Crocus without any leads he finally convinced her to pick a hotel for the night. There was a strong chance the main operation wasn't held in such a large city, and they'd have to try something else in the morning.

She wanted to push herself to go back to Everlue's, though Sting shot her down three times. She really wasn't sure how well it would go over, but she wanted to try. Anything to give them a clue as to where the hideout was.

Now, on the northeast side of Crocus and about as far away from Sabertooth as they could get in the town, the pair agreed to bunker down for the night. She could tell from his surprised expression that he expected her to want them to have separate rooms.

Lucy didn't see why he'd want to waste more money and get to separate rooms with separate beds when the same could be accomplished in a single room for half the price. She assumed after he saved her he likely didn't have any ill intentions, and he'd seen her in a bed enough times that if he intended to he would've done something already.

Besides, she felt more comfortable knowing he'd be in the same space. Less could happen if he was right there, and she knew the chances of anyone trying to come in and hard her were slim.

It was irrational thinking someone would come into her hotel room and try to rape her, but she couldn't get the idea out of her head. Having Sting around was turning out to not be the worst thing that happened to her.

Shrugging, he agreed and paid for the room before she could even pull out her wallet. She scowled when he grinned, accepting two copies of the room key. "Don't even worry about it. There are a couple perks to being a guild master."

She stayed quiet, waiting until he passed her to climb the steps. Following along, she tried to figure out how she ended up where she was today. Instead of braving her fears along Sting was coming with her, providing more help than he needed to. She didn't get it.

And she didn't understand why it caused her heart to flutter. Her friends did plenty of nice things before and this never happened. Whatever was going on, she didn't understand but chose to not question it.

Right now, she wanted the comfort. And if Sting could provide it, she would selfishly take it.

 **A/n: Hello, hello! Long time no read. Sorry for the long delay, I got stuck on how to progress from the last chapter. Hopefully this chapter is satisfactory enough for the long delay, and I want to try and push the next one out sooner than seven weeks. Let me know your thoughts!**

 **Also, I want to let all of my readers know I have officially signed with a self-publishing company to help produce my first original novel, which I'm hoping to publish in June 2019 (tentatively). So if you're interested please keep me in mind! My understanding is the book should be available worldwide, so I will be delegating a lot more time to that than anything else. If you're interested in seeing my original work stay tuned and I will keep everyone informed! Until next time.**


	10. Heightened Senses

They didn't even make it to the room. Sting was two-thirds of the way up the stairs when he started smelling fear on Lucy, waiting until she actually said something to comment.

"Um, actually, I'm kind of hungry."

He paused, glancing back over his shoulder. She looked nervous, biting her lip as she waited for a response. She kept her gaze down, something she'd done since being rescued from Everlue's.

"Sure you aren't avoiding going to our room?" he joked, rolling his eyes. "Having second thoughts already?"

Her stomach grumbled, working in her favor. She peeked up at him, giving the man a small smile. "I am hungry."

"Fine," he sighed, deciding arguing with her was futile. "But we can eat downstairs. Can we at least drop off the bags?"

Lucy nodded, the scent of fear going down a little as they spoke. "Yeah, good idea."

She ended up leading the way, brushing past him to grab the key and hurry up the rest of the stairs. He followed along, mindful of their surroundings as they walked. He hadn't found a reason yet to be concerned about much of anything, but he'd had his guard up since they went back to Crocus.

So far two similar situations happened to her here, the latter far worse than Natsu's botched mating attempt. He was fully prepared for her to panic, though he wasn't sure what he actually planned to do about it.

As they walked to their room Sting followed behind her, his mind not really focused on the situation at hand. They passed a pair of men, Lucy several steps ahead of him. The duo watched her as she passed, giving each other a look as she did so.

Sting didn't have to be right next to them before he smelled it, the stink almost overpowering from their sudden reaction to her. Lucy, even wearing denims and a t-shirt, had a look that people didn't ignore. And that was all too clear to him when he smelled the lust radiating off the duo, their eager looks suddenly fueling his senses.

He didn't even remember doing it. One moment he was trying to walk past, the next he had grabbed the closet man and thrown him into the wall, letting the light in his hands spring to life.

"Looking at something?" he asked, eyes angled at the man he hadn't grabbed. He shook his head quickly, waving his arms in front of him. From the smell it was apparent this guy wasn't a wizard. Turning his attention back to the one he was holding up off the floor, he cocked an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"Sting?" Lucy asked, but he refused to look her way. He could feel the man devouring her with his eyes, the lust bubbling inside him.

"Stay there blondie," he seethed, declining to use her name. He didn't think these guys needed to know. He tightened his hand on the guy's shirt, dragging him a little closer. "Well?"

The guy glanced sideways at her once more before scoffing, shaking his head even as his eyes raked over her. "Nothing."

Sting growled before letting go, throwing him back into the wall. He immediately felt Lucy's hand on his arm, urging him away. Shaking his head, he let her drag him off.

What was that? He was being irrational just now. Lucy kept her hand on his arm until they made it into the room, throwing down her bag as she spun around.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, hands resting at her hips. "They weren't doing anything."

Sting bit his lip, the nauseating smell playing back in his head. She was none the wiser to what just occurred, but he couldn't get the primal instincts out of his head.

He wanted to shut the door and keep her with him all night, away from prying eyes. That made absolutely no sense, and if he tried anything of the sort he assumed all of her zodiacs would come out full force to fillet him.

But if he left his mark on her –

Sting reared back from her, spinning away to pace towards the window. Where did _that_ thought come from? A month ago he ridiculed Natsu for trying the same thing, and now here he was with similar ideas? Was his head screwed on wrong?

He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Why did he suddenly feel so protective of her out there? Even when he found her at Everlue's –

 _Everlue_. Yet another thought that gave him pause. He was furious over what happened to her, but the idea of the man's name caused a newfound amount of anger to quell inside him, as though the man violated something that was distinctly his.

Screwing his eyes shut, he felt a headache coming on. Maybe he had.

"Sting?" she asked, sounding more confused than before. He cleared his throat as he turned around, well aware that he had zero lead way if he lost control with her. Lucy was in a fragile state of mind after the last job, and if he messed anything up right now she would never trust him again.

He was surprised the idea hurt so much.

"Sorry, headache," he explained, blinking.

"Okay," she said slowly, still looking confused. "Do you want to go down to dinner now?"

The idea of running into anyone else who might stare at her made him want to be physically ill, and he had to swallow before answering. "Uh, no. Why don't we just order room service?"

Lucy's eyebrows shot up, and as soon as she crossed her arms he knew he was in for it. "Oh, now we can't even go downstairs to eat? Afraid I might come undone if someone breathes my way."

"That's not-"

"I'm not an idiot Sting," she sighed, her shoulders drooping. "I know you want to make sure no one else hurts me. But everyone we pass doesn't have it out for me."

He paused, arching an eyebrow as he leaned into the wall. "Sure you aren't telling yourself that?"

She didn't flinch but her shoulders tensed once more, and he could see her guards rising up again. "Everyone isn't out to get me. Just those men."

"Those men who don't know we're coming," he agreed, unrelenting. "The ones I'm not going to let anywhere near you?"

Lucy shook her head. "Quit kidding yourself Sting. You and I both know you can't keep running around Fiore with me. You have an entire guild to run, and Rogue might really come unglued if you stay away too long. Our time is limited to however long you can stay away, and then I'll be continuing on my own. I have to find Everlue and the others."

Sting bit his lip, refusing to rise to her bait. He could tell she was baiting him, wanting him to get angry and fight with her. It was an attempt to chase him away, one he didn't fully understand.

If she was still so damn afraid, why was she fighting him tooth and nail?

He gave up, throwing up his hands. "There's no reasoning with you right now. Do you want some food or not? Order room service or I'll grab something while I'm out. I need a damn walk."

Lucy's arms dropped to her sides, blinking several times at his words. He clearly threw her a curve ball just now, but he didn't care. She mumbled something about dinner, and he turned and walked out without another word.

He needed to clear his head. Arguing with her was futile.

* * *

Lucy remained where she was for several moments after Sting left, the heavy hotel door banging closed as he departed. She let out an audible breath in the silence, and vaguely wondered if he could hear that as he left.

Why did she do this? What the hell was wrong with her?

Sinking into the nearest bed, she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Stupid! Why she thought getting a joint room was a good idea was beyond her, but she felt safer knowing someone else was there. If Everlue and the others somehow found her she wouldn't be totally alone.

Asleep and alone. If Sting didn't stay in the room tonight she wasn't sure she could sleep.

Removing her hands she took several deep breaths, thinking back to the hallway. She'd known those men were looking at her, familiar with the tells as they passed. But she wasn't prepared for Sting's reaction.

What was he _doing_? Why was he ever reacting like this? Bouncing her knees she glanced around the quiet room, wondering how long he planned to be gone. Her eyes fell on her bag, an idea forming.

A stupid idea.

Drawing out her lacrima, she let the call go through silently. She wasn't totally certain what she intended to say, and if she even wanted her friend to answer –

"Lu?"

She blinked, staring down at the image of Levy through the screen. The blue haired girl looked concerned, her brows pinched together as she stared at the celestial mage. She hadn't contacted the bookworm since coming to Sabertooth, and she was sure by now the poor girl was worried. "Hey Levy."

"Oh, Lu!" she cried, leaning a bit closer to the screen. "I've been so worried! I can't believe I let you take that request-"

"It's not your fault," she interrupted, a small smile tugging at her lips over Levy's concern. "I got a little banged up but I'm okay."

Levy frowned, glancing around before she got up, the image moving as she stepped away from what looked like the guild hall. Several moments later she spoke again, appearing to be outside. "You got beat up, huh?"

"You could say that," she grumbled, her hand involuntarily clamping on her thigh, willing her expression to stay neutral. Giving her fears away wouldn't do any good. "But I'm getting better."

She pursed her lips before speaking again, her eyes dancing across the blonde's face. "You aren't at Sabertooth anymore, are you?"

She hesitated. "No."

Levy sighed, shaking her head. "I told Gajeel you'd go out and try to do something about those men that attacked you. What exactly happened? Sting didn't say much, and Makarov said you got beat up. Why are you not back yet?"

"I need to deal with something first," Lucy sighed, feeling her guards rising up again. She contacted Levy for a reason that evaded even her, and now she realized she wasn't sure if she could even be truthful with the girl.

"Is Sting with you?" she asked, catching Lucy off guard.

"W-what?" she gasped, eyebrows shooting up. "How-"

"Gajeel guessed he'd go wherever you went when you left," she explained. "We have a bet going."

"A… bet?"

Levy nodded, a knowing twinkle in her eye. "I told him about some of your interactions with Sting."

Lucy tilted her head to the side, "what interactions?"

"Oh, all the ones I can think of." She grinned, her yees briefly closing. "He thinks from the sounds of it, and how Sting found you with next to impossible odds, that he's your mate."

She froze, eyes widening as her grip tightened. How the hell did Gajeel of all people come to that conclusion? What were her friends told?

"And I agree," she continued. "Yukino gave us a rundown of Sting finding you, and the near impossible likelihood that someone could do it. He's actually the one who mentioned it in the guild hall earlier today."

Her heart sank. Did that mean ironhead said so in front of all her friends? She was surprised her lacrima hadn't blown up by now.

"Erza and Gray said it was absurd of course," she explained, winking, "but Natsu was really quiet. He didn't say anything actually. Maybe he thinks the same thing."

"Oh please tell me everyone isn't gossping about this," she groaned, finding her voice again. "How could you let him say that in front of everyone!?"

"It slipped out," Levy said sheepishly, shrugging. "We hadn't talked much about it before, and after getting the rundown it's the first thing Gajeel said. And honestly, it doesn't seem totally wrong. How would one person have that much energy to accomplish so much in such a short time?"

Lucy felt her blush deepening. "Well Natsu-"

"Oh, no, no, _no_ ," Levy snapped, shaking a finger at her. "No deviating. We're talking about Sting here. He somehow found you in a random location far away from where you were, beat up the people holding you and managed to make it back to the guild and into the infirmary in a couple hours."

She grew quiet. Levy wasn't wrong, but from the sounds of it she was none the wiser on why Sting had to drag her back to his guild.

"So what happened?" the bluenette continued, arching an eyebrow.

Lucy forced herself to not swallow, afraid of giving anything away. "Oh, the usual. I got kidnapped, beat up a little-"

"A little?" Levy echoed, sounding unconvinced. "Yukino said you were half dead when he brought you back. Do you know how much yelling master had to do to keep everyone from storming over there to beat up whoever did this?"

"Well-"

"By the way, who did do this?" she asked, interrupting. "Yukino said something about Everlue? That's someone you fought before, right?"

She stilled, the name alone enough to cause her heartbeat to increase. She didn't want to think about Everlue and the others, not while sitting alone in the room. One of the benefits to having Sting there was he took the bed by the window, and with his dragon senses he'd be able to hear if someone was approaching –

Lucy paused, completely forgetting about her friend on the line. Increased hearing…

"Did your senses increase when you got together with Gajeel?" she asked, completely forgetting what Levy just asked. "Did your hearing get better?"

Levy's eyebrows shot. "Uh, yeah. My hearing and my sense of smell got a little better when Gajeel started pursuing me, and when he first marked me everything intensified." She blushed, a smile tugging at her lips. "W-when we mated everything intensified-"

Lucy jumped up off the bed. "Mated?!"

Laughing, Levy shook her head. "I won't give you one detail until you come home! So hurry up and complete whatever you need to do so we can talk! Who knows, maybe by then you'll have mate of your own."

Levy's words faded as they said their goodbyes, Lucy's mind traveling a million miles away. She replayed the last few moments of their exchange in her head as the idea took form, the whole thing a little surreal.

 _Mates_. Could she really have a mate? The only person she ever even humored was Natsu, and that was a no go.

But Sting?

"Mates," she whispered, letting the word roll off her tongue. She'd heard it enough times to know that it was something of a possibility, the whole idea jarring. Sting himself seemed to take the idea with a grain of salt, and the entire time she'd known him she hadn't seen any hint that he was pursuing someone for such purposes.

It might explain her heightened senses earlier, something she hadn't been quite able to explain.

But… mates?

Lucy dropped the lacrima onto the bed, approaching the nearest mirror to study herself. It would be ironic if they ended up being mates after their rocky introduction.

She stared at herself, the layers she'd used to hide her skin since last week.

 _You're so ugly._

Everlue's words echoed in her head, a reminder of the contrasting reactions he had to her body versus Nigel, who was all too eager. Between getting undressed by one man and being ridiculed by the other, the whole experience was a jumble of mismatched reactions.

She turned to the side, studying her figure beneath the t-shirt. Maybe she really was ugly, but passable enough for people like Nigel.

The men from the hallway earlier were interested in her, but she wondered for what reasons. There had to be something fundamentally wrong with for one man to find her repulsive and the other alluring, yet they could both belittle at the same time.

She hesitated before grabbing the hem of her shirt, drawing it up to below her bust. There were no lasting marks there, no telltale signs that anyone touched her. She ran a hand over her stomach before pausing, letting it linger on the waist of her jeans.

She felt stupid, tears pricking her eyes when she remembered the man gripping her ass as they led her to the wall, feeling her up before they started trying to inspect. It was because she'd worn a skirt that he could do that, she'd left herself open –

Before she knew what she was doing Lucy found herself unbuttoning her jeans, sliding them halfway down her legs before turning to stare at herself in the mirror again, looking for the lasting impression of a handprint that wasn't there.

No matter what she did, what clothes she threw on, she could feel their touches lingering there. Five minutes longer and –

Lucy gasped when the hotel room's door opened, looking up to meet Sting's eyes when he entered. She'd gotten distracted, needing to check herself over in a moment that wasn't opportune. She froze, remaining as she was, with her jeans pulled down to her knees and her back to the mirror, tugging the lacy underwear to one side to observe.

She felt her blush returning, and it took a moment for Sting to let the door fall shut and advert his eyes.

"Ah – uh – uh, what are you doing?" he asked, looking towards the ceiling, clearing his throat unsuccessfully.

Lucy squeaked, immediately bending to return her jeans to their rightful position. She scrambled, her fingers working against her for many moments before successfully returning the denim to her hips. She didn't bother buttoning them, launching herself onto her designated bed to throw the covers over herself, head and all.

She'd done it again. She was putting herself in harm's way, doing things that begged herself to be hurt. Why she did that she didn't understand, she knew it was risky –

"Stop panicking," he said, interrupting her thoughts from outside the blanket. His voice was strained, tight, but further away than she expected. "I should've knocked."

Lucy hesitated, the burn of the blush remaining as she slowly pulled the blanket down past her head to peak out. Sting had dropped the food on the lone dresser, the food jumbled in his haste. He was by the window now, faced away, and she couldn't see his reflection from this position.

She could feel the tension in the room without having to say a word. She put him in an awkward situation, and if he was someone else she wasn't certain how him finding her in such a compromising situation would've gone.

He wouldn't even look at her, something she didn't expect. Was she that repulsive to look at?

Lucy bit her lip, feeling dumber than before. He saw her mostly naked and didn't react, in fact he wouldn't even glance her way. Of course they weren't mates.

He was being nice, that was all.

"Sorry," she said quietly, keeping the blanket where it was. "I – I should've used the bathroom."

Sting cleared his throat, remaining rigidly where he was. "S'okay. Don't mention it."

He didn't even flinch. Lucy pressed her legs together, feeling the pinpricks of tears trying to form in her eyes.

Maybe Everlue was right. She was putrid.

"Don't cry," he said, sounding alarmed. "Please. I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't," she whispered, staring down at the blankets. Her arms came around to hug herself, the blanket slipping just past her shoulders. "I – I'm sorry."

"Why the hell are you sorry? You didn't really do anything wrong."

Lucy didn't respond, her encounter with Everlue echoing in her mind. She wasn't sure who's reaction to her was worse anymore, between Everlue and Nigel. Maybe they were both right, her appearance was in the eyes of the beholder.

And Sting knew, better than anyone, what happened. Of course he'd find her ugly. She'd easily let someone take advantage of her, and they almost got away with it.

"I should've fought them more," she said quietly, well aware that Sting would hear her even if she whispered. "I didn't fight enough."

"You fought plenty," he replied, remaining by the window. "They took advantage while you were down Lucy, there's no shame in that. You did all you could, and you're doing more now."

"I let them touch me," she said quietly, hearing the gentle shuffle as Sting spun around. She didn't lift her gaze, keeping it fixated on the covers. "I left myself open."

Sting was by the bed before she realized, remaining at the foot of the bed instead of coming to her side. "You didn't do _anything_ Lucy. They did this by their own choice, not due to anything that's your fault."

She briefly lifted her gaze before doing a double take, sitting a little straighter on the bed. "T-the scales-"

"I told you this happens sometimes," he said quickly, cutting her off. Last time the scales were a dusting on each cheek, but now they were a solid fixture on his cheeks and forehead, down to his neck and jugular. Lucy blinked, leaning closer to him.

"I've never seen it before unless you are in Dragon Force," she whispered, thinking of the few times she'd seen scales on Natsu and even Gajeel. They never just appeared, and usually it was caused by magic usage, not anger. She moved forward, letting the blanket fall off as she shifted to her knees, reaching out until she was almost touching the scales.

Lucy hesitated, glancing at Sting's eyes as though to ask for permission before touching the scales. She'd never tried before, brushing them on difffernt occasions but never taking the time to examine them with any of her friends. He remained rigid but nodded anyway, and it was all she needed to brush her fingers along the smooth texture.

They were a lot softer than expected, but sharp at the edge. A good defense against attacks, but not uncomfortable for the slayer. She let her finger trail along his cheek to his jawline, tracing the patter back again.

Sting didn't react until then, sucking in a breath sharply but otherwise remaining stony. Her gaze briefly flickered to his eyes before moving on, looking at the array of scales down his neck and jugular.

She couldn't help herself. There was something mesmerizing about the white reflective disks, something she didn't understand but couldn't look away from. Moving closer she sat directly in front of him, running her fingers from his cheek down to the side of his neck, watching his body tense.

He inhaled sharply when she traced the scales on one side of his neck before moving to the other, leaving his jugular for last. By the time she touched the covered skin there she thought he might come undone, his fists clenched together so tightly she was certain he was going to cut off circulation soon.

Lucy leaned in closer to observe the scales on his neck and Sting finally moved, one hand coming out to grasp her shoulder. She looked up, realizing his eyes were brighter than before. There was magic leaking off of him, illuminating the light around his body.

"Don't do something we can't come back from," he said hoarsely, his voice barely restrained. Lucy took a second to process that information, reading the depths of restraint in his eyes.

He was trying exceedingly hard to remain as he was. For better or worse she was pushing his buttons, and Lucy couldn't quite explain why she felt so calm when he was obviously tense.

She held his gaze another moment before leaning forward, unsure what she wanted to say to that. Everyone's words echoed in her head, from Natsu to Levy to Everlue even.

Everyone, anyone, who mentioned anything about mating to physical appearance. Something about her got to Sting, it was one of the few reasons he would be there with her now.

One of them should pull away before she did something really stupid, but she couldn't help herself. Sting made her feel safe, even in ways she didn't fully understand yet. She leaned in closer, her breath tickling the bids of exposed skin on her neck.

Sting reacted, reaching out to grasp both of her shoulders so he could push her away. It wasn't what she expected, her eyes going wide when he pushed her back, sitting as far on the edge of the bed as he could, keeping her an arm's length away.

"Lucy," he stressed, closing his eyes. "Please, you've gotta stay back."

She tilted her head, watching his reactions. He wouldn't focus on her, his arms tense despite the gentleness of his grip. His eyes remained closed, like he couldn't focus on her. The scales didn't recede, and she had the same, strange desire to lean forward and inspect them.

She filtered through everything she knew about Sting, and his reactions right now were about as un-Sting-like as they could get. He wasn't usually restrained and controlled, he spoke his mind and got snarky.

This wasn't him. He was restraining himself, and the longer he held her there the more the rumors and hints started to make sense.

She could smell something in the air, but what she should label it eluded her. She didn't usually notice scents this much, and she wasn't sure what to do with the smell now.

Lucy almost chickened out, swallowing audibly before she tried to speak. Sting kept his eyes closed, like it was the only thing hinging him to reality. "Sting?"

"Hmm?"

She wet her lips, wondering if he'd open his eyes up and laugh in her face. "Are… do you think we're mates?"

 **A/n: Hello hello! Sorry for the delay in updating, there's been a lot going on in life. This isn't supposed to be a cliffhanger chapter, it's actually done this way because I'm undetermined how I would like to write the next part of this discussion. I've done a couple drafts and none are satisfying, so I wanted to get this much out to you guys. I'm struggling a little with the plot, so any thoughts are appreciated! Hopefully the next chapter won't take over a month! Let me know what you guys think.**


	11. Possessive and Protective

Sting stared at Lucy, the question hanging in the air.

He laughed, albeit rather awkwardly, before reaching back to rub his head. "W-what?"

Lucy's eyebrows shot up as she started at him. "That was a pretty squeaky 'what'."

Clearing his throat, he tried to take note of what they'd gotten themselves into. She remained crouched on the bed, and a quick survey revealed that her denims were still undone at the top, the button open and the zipper having slid partway down to reveal lacy pink panties beneath.

He swallowed, looking away again. Whether or not Lucy realized it, she was making this exceptionally difficult to deny. She was giving him way too much to think about, and the hard on she was creating really didn't help matters much.

Shifting his body, he glared out the window. She'd also gone the extra step and touched his _scales_ of all fucking things, which very nearly sent him tumbling over the edge. How could she _not_ assume that would cause some sort of reaction?

"Sting?"

He chanced looking at her, willing the scales to recede back into his skin. If she tried tracing them again he'd come unhinged, and he really would end up leaving his mark on her.

At least she was still sitting on the bed, though looking at her crouched like that really didn't help matters.

"What?"

She tapped her fingers together nervously, the smell of her unease leaking off of her in waves. He felt a little bit like a jerk for failing to answer, but it was better than the alternative? What did she want him to do, spill his guts?

"Levy thinks we are mates," she blurted out, clasping her hands together. "And Gajeel too. They have a bet going."

Sting felt his eyebrows shoot up. "People have bets going about this?"

She nodded once, dropping her gaze again. "Are they really wrong?"

He pressed his lips together, debating how to answer that. He really didn't know if she was his mate or not; he'd never found anyone who sparked his interest enough to consider the possibility.

He'd never felt the urge to mark anyone either like he had with Lucy, and the longer she knelt like that and fueled his primal urges, the harder he found it to control them.

"How would you even know?" she continued desperately, slicing through his thoughts. "Levy gave me the textbook answer, but…"

Sting frowned. "But?"

She laughed humorlessly, pointing to his cheeks. "She didn't mention that. A-and it doesn't tell me how I will know! Will I know, or does it just kind of happen and I have to go along with it?" Shaking her head, she dropped her hand once more. "How do I know?"

Sting sighed, running a hand through his hair. When he'd talked to her before everything was a joke, and he just talked to her to get under her skin. But actually talking to her and accepting the reality they may face was a completely different matter, one he didn't really know how to broach.

He shifted, moving to sit back on the edge of the bed. She didn't stiffen like he expected, openly staring like she was curious. He hesitated just a moment before speaking. "I thought Natsu fed you some bullshit about only talking about this with your mate?"

Lucy arched an eyebrow. "Technically, if I am understanding right, we could… _potentially_ , be mates."

Sting rolled his eyes, nodding along. "Yeah, I guess."

"You told me once if I wanted answers about things to come to Sabertooth," she continued, clasping her knees tightly. "I want answers. I came to Sabertooth-"

"You came for a job," he interrupted, eyes widening. "And I was talking about Natsu!"

She sighed. "Sting, please. I have to understand what's happening here."

He inclined his head, relaxing into the mattress as he studied her. "Why do you think we're mates? Why does anyone?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, frowning. "Well, isn't it obvious? What everyone's saying! You caught my scent, you somehow found me o-out there." She paused, clearing her throat when her voice caught, glancing away from him again. "And you've been… different."

"You think so?"

"I know so," she replied, scowling. "Don't be coy. I want real answers."

Sting hesitated, staring at her for many moments before responding. "I think you have your answers, you're just afraid of them."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you noticed your senses increasing? Maybe you can hear better or you're picking up on things that you haven't noticed before," he explained, studying her. "You probably feel safer when you are near me even if you don't understand why."

Lucy's eyes widened, and she shifted closer to him. "Yes! Yes, I've noticed those things."

Sting's eyes widened, matching her own. This close together he could study the flecks of color in her eyes, showing him that they were warmer than the basic brown he originally assumed they were. He'd feared she would say something like that, feeling the flare of possession rise up inside at her words.

She carried the traits, all the typical signs he' ever heard of that hinted at a mate, aside from obscure displays of power and protectiveness.

Well, he'd done those things himself, and he didn't need to prove to anyone that he was protective of her.

Clearing his throat, he tried to look elsewhere when he spoke again. "Then, that would be your way of knowing."

Lucy's eyes widened, and she jumped up out of the bed, waving her hands. "No! No, I mean, it's because you've helped me!"

"Which stirred up the exact same emotions?" Sting asked, unconvinced.

"Well you saved me from those men," she reasoned, nodding along as though to convince herself. "A-and I'm more comfortable around you because I trust you since everything happened."

Sting ignored the way that sent a pleasant surge through his chest, returning his gaze completely to her. "You should still be wary. Until a few weeks ago we didn't talk. Now we're going on a job to try and capture men who are being pursued by Wizard Saints. Yet you show no fear around me. It's unnatural."

Lucy titled her head, studying him. "Your scales."

Before he could respond she took a step forward and reached out, running her fingers over his cheek. The scales were gone, faded back into his skin, but it did nothing to quell the intensity of her touch. The surge of magic that sparked when he heard her talking was gone, replaced when they suddenly ended up in an almost intimate position.

Argument or not, he hadn't forgotten what got that reaction out of him in the first place.

He caught her hand, keeping it pressed into his cheek when he spoke again. "You didn't leave yourself open," he said, gripping her hand tightly. "Whatever those men did, it's not because of anything that's your fault. Stop blaming yourself for it."

He watched as she started to withdraw, the light in her eyes slipping back behind the fear. She attempted to pull away but he kept his grip on her hand, forcing her to remain where she was. "Sting-"

"Believe me," he stressed, running his fingers along her hand. "What they did and said is no reflection of you. I know you don't want to tell me what-"

"It's shallow," she interrupted, tugging to get her arm back again. He remained unmoving, watching the warring emotions in her eyes. "There's nothing to talk about."

"You're terrified," he said, his voice deepening when he spoke. He could feel his magic dancing behind his eyes again, wishing to show itself when he witnessed the sudden fear. He reached forward, tugging Lucy until she stood right in front of him. "What happened?"

Lucy shook her head. "Sting-"

"If you believe we might be mates," he reasoned, staring intently into her eyes, "then I need to know. You understand it'll eat away at me inside if I don't know, right?"

Lucy stiffened, the one hand he was still holding tightening on his cheek. A moment later he felt her fingers dancing over his skin again, the familiar roughness back once more.

"Your scales," she said quietly, rubbing the skin again. "You're angry."

"Of course I am," he snapped. "I can tell when you're frightened, blondie. I don't like it. There's nothing in this room that will hurt you."

She nodded, glancing away to take a deep breath. "It's stupid. I told you."

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't curious."

Shaking her head, she spoke again, "It's just… everything. Their words, t-their touches-"

"And it won't happen again," he reminded, bringing up his point from earlier. "They will have to kill me to touch you."

Lucy frowned. "I'm not going to hide behind you. This is my fight."

"I know," Sting agreed, the corner of his mouth tugging upward, "that doesn't mean I have to sit around and wait for someone to fuck up. That's what idiots do."

"Is that what a mate would do?" she asked quietly.

Sting raised an eyebrow. "No. If I had a say you wouldn't even be here, but you obviously don't listen to me."

She laughed, the sound finally cutting through the air around them. "I guess that's true."

He smiled, relishing in the sound. He kept her hand pressed against his skin another moment before letting go, noticing that she didn't immediately pull back.

When she finally let the connection go, her questions came back tenfold. "Was that a yes then?"

Hesitating, he raised an eyebrow again. "What do you think? With everything you know, do you believe we could be mates."

She didn't hesitate this time, surprising him. "Yes."

"And… you're just okay with that?"

"I don't know," she explained, the scent of uncertainty returning. "I hadn't really considered it until recently."

"Yeah, me neither," he admitted, smirking when she laughed at his honesty. "I've never tried to find a mate before."

She fidgeted, moving her hands several times before resting them on her neck, brushing some of the blonde locks aside. "D-does that mean you're going to mark me?"

His eyes widened, and he had to lean away from her before he lost control and took the bait. "Do you want me to?"

"What would it do?"

Sting held back a groan, wondering if Natsu seriously forgot the dragon part of him for four years. "That salmon-haired idiot didn't tell you a damn thing."

Lucy pouted, shifting back to the bed again. He made sure to keep his eyes on her face, unsure how bringing up her pants in the middle of a conversation would go. "No, but you already know that."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Sting hesitated many moments before he spoke again. "You don't want to be marked Lucy."

"Don't tell me what I want to do."

He scoffed. "Marking is a very serious matter. There's a reason I haven't tried with anyone. Natsu botched it, but it's supposed to leave an imprint of potential mate in your skin. The mark doesn't mean much to people who don't understand dragon slayer magic, but it works looks almost like a tattoo, and it's a sign that others need to stay away."

"So it doesn't do anything else?" she asked, her curiosity obviously growing.

"I wouldn't say that," he replied, sounding offended. "It also works like a calling card. Do you really think dragons kept away because they saw a mark on someone's neck? Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it didn't. It's supposed to let you know if your mate is in danger or harm's way." He cleared his throat, glancing away. "It connects you, and lets the dragon slayer-"

"You," she interrupted, closing her eyes slowly. "Stop saying dragon slayer Sting. We're talking about you. How this would affect us."

He gulped. Yeah, that's exactly what they were talking about. "Right. It would let _me_ know if you were in danger, and it also tells me if you are near another slayer, since they are usually the biggest threats. That's why when I first thought that Natsu marked you I almost ran off. I don't need the wrath of another dragon slayer."

She pursed her lips, hanging on his every word. "How would you know? About if I was in danger?"

Sting hesitated, fearful of where she was taking this. "I leave some on my magic in your skin. I haven't done it, but it's supposed to be this sensory thing where I can feed off your emotions and feelings, even if we aren't close by. Which, mind you, would cause me to get antsy if I don't have you close by."

Lucy fidgeted, and he could tell that the severity of his words were setting in. Marking was no small matter, and it didn't matter the benefit that the act could provide, it was too risky.

That, and he couldn't imagine her letting him bite her.

"So," she began, swallowing before she could continue, "that's what would happen if we tried?"

Sting groaned, staring at her. "Lucy, you don't want to try anything."

"But-"

"I'd be possessive," he explained, reaching out to grasp her hand. She stilled, and he hoped his words hit home with her. "Paranoid. I would only mark you if I was sure that you could be my mate, and once the mark is there it controls the urge to mate, but not by much. Our scents will start to mix once you're marked, and they would combine into one smell if we mated. But until that point, I'd be volatile to anyone who got near you."

Lucy nodded, and despite her actions he could see the interest remaining in her eyes. If she was afraid of what lay ahead then having someone who might be able to sense she was in danger probably sounded like a good thing.

Sting stood from the bed, pacing back to the window once more. She was distressed right now, fighting through whatever thoughts while he was gone. He couldn't do anything right now, even if his dragon urges begged him to.

Control was not something he exercised a lot, but in her case he had to. She'd almost gotten marked by Natsu once. If he tried there was no telling if it would bring up those memories or not.

"Don't tell me I don't want to try," she said, causing his neck to snap around. "I'll be the judge of that. And obviously not now, but maybe sometime…. We could try."

He raised an eyebrow, studying her. She had no idea how hard it was to accept a _maybe_ answer. Lucy held his gaze, relentless as she waited for him to argue again.

He couldn't keep this up. If she kept challenging his willpower he really would slip up, and she didn't even seem aware of what she was doing.

Instead he glanced her over, deciding to break the tension. "Your pants are still undone."

Lucy squealed, immediately jumping back under her covers again. "You jerk! Why didn't you say anything!?"

"Well you looked pretty embarrassed about it earlier."

"So you thought you didn't have to mention it?" she screamed, her head popping out.

"Thought you might panic."

"I'm not panicking!"

Sting laughed, glad that the tension finally broke. "You're right blondie, you're mad."

* * *

Lucy stared at the ceiling, willing herself to go to bed. She was the one who wanted to set out early tomorrow, and yet she was still awake, glaring at the plain white ceiling.

How was she supposed to sleep? Sting had the same ideas about their situation as she did, and he had a better understanding. Why did she have to be so in the dark?

She chanced a glance at his bed for what had to be the tenth time. He'd passed out an hour ago, or at least he pretended to. She couldn't tell if he was faking it or not, and right now it really didn't matter.

 _Mates._

It took forever, but he had confessed to having the same thoughts. And since he was the one with slayer magic, she was certain he had a better idea about things than he let on.

He was trying to keep from scaring her, which was endearing but not helpful. She needed to understand everything that was going on, and if he was having similar problems he was the best person to talk to, albeit the most awkward as well.

She stared. He didn't act possessive, except maybe earlier in the hallway. Was he just saying things to keep her from pressing, or was he being real?

The last thing she wanted was someone possessive trying to control her. He said that it got better after mating – something she _would not_ focus on – and she hadn't seen a change in Levy when they spoke earlier.

Could she handle it? Having someone who wanted to be in every aspect of her life sounded suffocating.

And needing to be close all the time? They were limited to a number of days before Sting needed to go back to Sabertooth, and whenever she completed her goal she would return to Fairy Tail and not his guild hall. There would always be distance between them.

She frowned. How would that work? It was already strange enough to imagine that someone who hated her two months ago could now be the person she was destined for in life.

Shaking her head, she sat up. Overthinking wouldn't help her. Earlier when she'd shown Sting her neck it frightened her, and she would be lying if she didn't admit that his denial to mark her didn't give her some relief.

She didn't want anyone that close to her. Not for the time being.

A rustling outside caught her attention, so faint she thought for a moment that she imagined it. Glancing towards Sting, she waited to see if he reacted, but the man slept on none the wiser to whatever she just heard.

Subconsciously touching her ears, she got up out of bed and padded to the window. It was windy out tonight, the branches blowing in faded light. She narrowed her eyes as she observed the outside, trying to pick apart what she'd just heard.

Were these heightened senses a gift or curse? If she wasn't being affected by Sting, she'd have no idea anything was going on outside.

"Go to sleep," he grumbled, startling her. "You'll have to get used to noise."

Lucy turned, surprised he said anything at all. Either he was good at faking it or he woke up when she moved off the bed. If his senses were in a heightened state too, that wasn't too farfetched.

"I heard-"

"You're going to hear a lot of things," he replied sleepily. "Things you couldn't hear until now. You have to learn to zone them out."

She frowned, glancing back to the window again. "But-"

"It could be anything," he sighed, rolling over to face her. "You can probably hear people walking outside and it jarred you awake."

"No," she said, hands shifting to her hips. "It's not people walking. It was almost like running."

Sting snorted. "People do that too."

"It's past midnight."

"So they're cold," he grumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Don't let the sounds keep you up. They are outside, we are in here."

Lucy sighed, shaking her head. "That's not it Sting," she replied, rubbing her arms against the cool air in their hotel room. "I – I have this weird feeling."

He popped an eye open in the dark, and she was surprised she could make that out so clearly. "It's because you can hear things you usually can't."

"No," she said, facing the window once more. Her eyes skirted around the empty street, most people inside at such a late hour. It was significantly cooler than it was on their way here, the wind picking up –

Lucy let out an audible gasp, and behind her she vaguely registered Sting moving. Her eyes widened, watching a girl she'd nearly missed across the road, shadowed between two buildings.

She felt all the air leave her when she acknowledged the figure beside her, half covered by the shadows and a wall. There was no mistaking the silhouette, one she would never forget.

She was out the door by the time Sting made it to the window, forgoing her shoes in a mad dash to get outside. His face played over and again in her mind's eye, every horrifying reality becoming more and more real as her mind ran rampod.

Behind her she could hear Sting following but didn't pay him any mind, flying down the steps two at a time, her key ring jingling in her hand. She flew out the front door of their hotel, immediately assaulted by the frigid air overtaking Crocus.

She blinked before spinning and rushing towards the buildings she'd seen, wondering if maybe she was imaging things. Before she made it to the alley someone stopped her, wrapping their arms around her middle.

Lucy almost panicked, bringing her arms forward to jab her elbow back into their abdomen before he spoke. "Are you fucking mad?"

She paused, jerking in his grip until she could see Sting's face. "Let go! We have to help her!"

Sting stared at her like she'd gone mad, shaking his head slowly. "Who?"

She struggled, fighting to get away from him. "Her! The girl in the alley! Sting we need to go right now!"

He let go, staring at her like he was worried. "Lucy…"

She didn't wait to hear what he had to say, spinning on her heel to take off again. She was close to the alley, only a few feet away. It didn't take her long to reach the mouth of the alley, her keys in her hand to summon all the spirits she could –

The air left her lungs when she rounded the corner, staring into the empty space. Both figures were gone, but with her enhanced hearing she was certain she should've heard it if the girl got snatched up.

She hadn't heard Sting following, but she wasn't listening for him.

"They're gone," she whispered, staring into the empty alley. Her grip slackened on her keys, letting them hang limply at her side. She couldn't believe that the space was empty, certain that she could help her.

"Lucy-"

She spun on Sting, suddenly angry at the man who'd been helping her. "Why did you stop me!? I could've helped her!"

He shook his head, staring at her with wide eyes. "What girl?"

Lucy blinked, unable to believe him. "T-the one that was right here! You saw her! She was here with-with-"

"I saw Rustyrose," he stressed, shaking his head. "I'm sure it was him. But Lucy, there was no one with him."

Her eyes widened, staring down the alley again. "Yes there was. I saw her first."

"Why would I lie about that?" he asked, sounding confused. "There was no one in the alley with him."

She shook her head, unable to believe it. "No! There was someone there. I know there was! Why else would I come out here?"

Sting crossed his arms, glaring down the alley. "It's a trap. He was watching and either trying to scout us out, or lure you out."

"That doesn't make sense!" she screamed, turning to march down the alleyway. He grabbed her arm, refusing to let her step in. "I need to find him!"

"It's a trap," he said simply, refusing to let go. "Or an illusion we both saw. Why would you run towards someone who got the best of you last time?"

Lucy shook her head, keeping her gaze down the empty passage. "B-but he was here. He could lead us to the others!"

"He wouldn't lead us anywhere," Sting reasoned, lacing his hands together around her torso when she struggled again. "And, illusion or not, if you saw him in the dead of night, what else could this be but a set up?"

His words hit home and she stopped struggling, sinking back into his body. She shook her head slowly, her fingers clamping on her key ring once more. "Do you think they were there at all?"

"I don't know," he replied, "but it's a message either way. They're watching us."

 **A/n: Tada, here's chapter 11! Not all mushy but I think it develops the story now, and does get some things out in the open. Hopefully the next chapter will be along soon, and I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Also if you guys enjoy my StingXLucy stories, I have a newer story posted called "Scratches" that I'm hoping to update soon, if not today. Feel free to check that one out too! (Nothing like some self-promoting, right?).**


	12. Kiss Me Like This

She didn't sleep the rest of the night, which kept Sting up too. Lucy sat at the window, insistent that they would see something again. She could feel Sting's eyes on her the remainder of the night, probably afraid to look away for fear that she'd run out again.

He wasn't wrong. All she wanted to do was go out there and figure out where Rustyrose went, but he wasn't having it. He'd dragged her back inside, arguing with her about this being a trap, and they hadn't exchanged one word since.

She was angry. How could he have not seen that girl?

When she finally detached herself from the window it was already midmorning, and she walked past Sting and into the bathroom to shower without a second glance. The sooner she got ready for the day the sooner they could leave this place, and get back to looking for Everlue and his goons.

Lucy turned on the water, heating it up as high as it would go and stepped in. Her clothing from the previous day felt grimy, and she was happy to rid her skin of the items, letting the burning hot water soak away her troubles for a while.

Usually she would opt for a shower, but not today. All she wanted was some type of noise to drown out her thoughts. Standing beneath the water her fingers skimmed over her collarbone, thinking about her conversation from the day before with Sting. He pretty much refused to mark her, even if his eyes told a different story. She had wanted to argue with him, but didn't know what to say to fight his words.

He was right, she might not be able to handle the affects that marking brought with. He'd be possessive and he'd want to do things to her, it was in the nature of marking. Could she handle that?

Did she even want to? Until recently she hadn't thought much about Sting, now he was a focal point in her life. She trusted him, more than she liked to admit, and he hadn't done anything yet to convince her he was a bad guy.

Still, marking was serious. He'd leave an impression of his magic in her skin, and they would be bonded. She'd never even kissed the man. Letting him leave a part of himself in her was a little too much to handle.

Her fingers moved subconsciously to her lips, the thought lingering in her head. Before Natsu got distracted, he'd been trying to kiss her before marking. Maybe if she kissed Sting…

She finished her shower quickly, trying to dispel the thoughts from her head. She needed to focus on tracking and finding Everlue, not getting sidetracked by Sting. By the time she was finished and dressed she wondered if she was hallucinating again, thinking about Sting for all the wrong reasons.

When she stepped back into the room, he was in the middle of pulling on a new shirt. She didn't expect to react to him, having seen most of Sting's torso on plenty of occasions, and she stopped dead in her tracks when she felt something.

Her eyes widened as she stared at him, taking in the hard lines of his body just before the shirt covered them. He met her gaze as he straightened up, his eyes dark. She wasn't sure why they would be, and didn't bother asking. Hesitantly, she made her way over to him.

Sting remained still, watching her with hooded eyes. She stopped right in front of him, not entirely sure what she was doing. They spent enough time together for her to know this was out of character. What was she even doing?

He seemed to feel the same way. "Lucy?"

She gulped, closing her eyes when she spoke again. "I – I don't know why I came over here."

"You don't?"

Shaking her head, she kept her eyes firmly shut. Her body tingled all over, an experience she hadn't had before. Last night after their talk she hadn't felt this way, so what was the difference now? "No."

Sting took a breath, and several moments passed before he spoke again. "Look at me."

Her eyes flew open as though on command, and she was surprised how readily she responded. His eyes were as dark as before, seeing to eat her up as he stared at her. He leaned in a little closer, wetting his lips before he spoke. "What were you thinking about?"

Surprised, she sputtered. "What?"

He closed his eyes, keeping his hands tight at his sides. "What were you doing in there?"

She hesitated, wondering where this was going. "I took a shower."

His forehead creased, and he opened his eyes again as he leaned back. "That's all?"

"Yes," she replied, recalling her thoughts about kissing him. There's no way he could suddenly read her mind too, right?

He scowled, pinching the bridge of his nose. He briefly glanced over her, something he usually reframed from doing, and she found herself enjoying it.

Just as quickly as the thought passed through her mind, she tried to black it out. Why would she enjoy it?

Her body felt hot under his gaze, something she hadn't experienced before. She'd gotten looks from men before, but never like this. Sting looked like he was fighting with himself to keep from devouring her.

What in the world was going on?

He didn't say anything else, and she started to wonder if he could pick up on her moods. Her body felt alive, wired, and she was hotter than usual, never mind the heated shower. She wet her lips, rocking on her heels as she waited to speak again.

When he didn't, she decided to fill the empty space with the only thing she had to say. "I did think about what it might be like… kissing you."

Sting eyebrows shot up, and almost immediately she felt the room charge with energy. He jerked back from her instantly, spinning on his heel to stomp towards the window. "Fucking hell."

Lucy frowned, stunned by his reaction. Did she do something wrong? A blush sprouted across her cheeks, embarrassed by his obvious rejection. "I – I mean if you want to of course. I thought it would come before, uh… before any type of marking ever could."

He banged his head into the wall, loudly, and she jumped at the sound. He was going to hurt himself using that much force. "Why me?"

She moved forward, wondering why on earth he wanted to beat himself up. "What are you doing?" she asked, touching his shoulder. He jumped like she'd burned him, spinning around all too quickly.

"God don't touch me," he groaned, looking away from her. He took a breath, glaring down at the floor. "Don't say things like that, Lucy."

"You asked," she snapped, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not lying."

" _Stop_ ," he hissed, lifting his head again to glare at her. "Just stop fucking talking, please."

She pressed her lips together, annoyed. Her hands shifted to her hips, and she took another step closer, getting in his face. "Don't talk to me like that! Just because you don't like the answer doesn't mean you get to be a jerk to me."

He scowled, running a hand over his face. "Trust me blondie, it's not that I _didn't_ like what you had to say."

Lucy paused, confused. "Then what is your problem?"

Closing his eyes, Sting took a breath. She could tell he was at war with himself, but she couldn't figure out why. After a moment he lifted his head, taking a step forward until their chests barely touched, glaring down at her. "My instincts tell me to _act_ when I hear things like that from you. For the love of god, don't tempt me."

She frowned, tilting her head to the side. "I'm being honest with you," she said, her voice softer now. "I don't… I can't think about you marking me right now. You were right, I couldn't handle that. But… I don't know, doesn't kissing come before something as serious as marking?"

One side of his lips pulled up in a smile, but the heat in his eyes didn't fade. "Usually, yeah, I guess so. As far as a relationship might go, that would make sense. But the instincts of a dragon slayer are different. It's less about courting and more about claiming. We've already gone over this; you don't want to be claimed."

"No," she agreed, the word sending a rush of unease down her spine. He looked ready to jump her at any moment, but she found herself unwilling to let the topic drop. If she did, who knew how long it would take to get up the courage to ask again. "I'm not ready for anything like that, mates or not. I just, I thought I might understand my feelings more for you if I actually kissed you."

Sting hesitated, and she could see the war behind his eyes. "That's not a good idea."

"Why not?"

He huffed, shaking his head as he looked someplace above her. "Because I have no idea how I will react if you let me kiss you."

His words sent a surge of excitement through her body, and Lucy was surprised how that made her feel. After everything she should be more cautious, but something about Sting made her want to test the waters, just a little.

Who knows, maybe it had something to do with the knowledge that they could be mates. If they might end up spending their lives together, she wanted to know that they would be compatible.

She decided to take charge, realizing Sting wouldn't let his guard down. He was forcing himself to remain restrained, and unless she did something he wasn't going to. She shifted forward, their chest pressing together as she rose up on her toes, one hand resting against his chest for balance as she pressed her lips to his.

And just like that, their world exploded.

Sting's arm wrapped around her waist, the other threading through her hair to hold her in place. The kiss she gave him was chaste, intensifying a moment later when he grabbed her, deepening the kiss and letting his tongue dance across her lips. He pulled her flush into his body, and her hands instinctively wrapped around his neck.

She gasped, letting him take the lead. It was more of a reaction than she had expected, but the feel of his lips pressed to hers sent a jolt of electricity throughout her body, awakening parts of her she usually didn't focus on.

He kissed her roughly, her lips matching the intensity of his. Her fingers played with the hairs on his neck, delicate nails dragging along the skin there as he kept her pressed into him. She felt good, perfect, tucked into his body, and every single inch of his was charged from the contact.

Lucy gave him entry into her mouth when he ran his tongue along her lips the second time, enjoying the way his tongue fought with hers. He pulled her closer, impossibly so, and despite herself she groaned into his mouth, her skin dancing to life as he touched her.

Sting growled, turning them swiftly. She felt her back press into the wall, Sting pressing into her as he continued kissing her, his hand on her back tracing little lines. She gasped, her fingers tightening on his neck as he worked his magic on her, causing her body to heat up.

She knew she should be panicking, freaking out at being pressed back into something solid, covered by this man. She couldn't make herself care, going limp in his arms as he sucked on her bottom lip, gently biting down before letting her go, trailing little kisses along her jawline.

Lucy groaned again, every action sending jolts of pleasure through her body. She'd never been thoroughly kissed like this, and the experience sent her on a high she didn't think she'd soon come down from. The hand on her back had pushed up her tank top, and his hand touching the skin there left a heated path along her skin. Her breathing had increased, and she was panting as he started kissing from her jaw down her neck, leaving sloppy kisses along the way.

Her fingers dragged along his skin, from his neck to his shoulders, she couldn't hardly focus as he teased her, nipping the flesh of her neck. Each time he added pressure she let out a little gasp, her nails clawing into his skin.

He felt good, amazingly good, better than she'd ever felt before with someone before. He kept kissing her until he reached the juncture at her neck and shoulder, sucking at the skin there for several moments before he groaned and pulled back, letting go of her to press his hands into the wall behind her instead of touching her skin.

Lucy's eyes flew open, immediate rejection flashing through her mind. His breathing was labored too, and he rested his forehead against hers for several moments before he spoke.

"We can't," he breathed. "We need to stop right now."

Lucy panted, her fingers still running over his skin. She felt alive, elated, and she couldn't imagine letting him stop there. Kissing him set off more inside her than she expected, and to stop so quickly had her heart clenching. She didn't expect to enjoy it so much. "W-why?"

He blinked, opening his eyes to stare at her. One hand came away from the wall, ghosting over her sensitive skin between her neck and shoulder, causing her to shudder. "If we don't stop… I'm going to mark you."

She shuddered again, the words that had frightened her to this point sending an unexpected wave of excitement through her. She couldn't imagine letting him go just then, every inch of her body hot and bothered from having him this close. It had to be the heat she felt between them, but for some reason his words stirred a different feeling inside of her, and she almost gasped when she felt an unexpected warmth blossom between her legs.

He inhaled sharply, pressing his hand back into the wall again. She heard the plaster crack, and wondered if he'd end up breaking the wall. " _Fuck_ Lucy."

She let her hands shift to the front of his body, dancing lightly over his chest. She'd never really gotten the chance to touch a man like this before, and although Sting seemed to be fighting with himself she couldn't help but trace the lines of muscle beneath his shirt.

She knew she wasn't helping matters, but she felt entranced. It was like the world outside them was a haze, and she couldn't imagine stepping back into it. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.

This was Sting, not somebody else with ill intentions. She could enjoy herself for a minute without fear. It wasn't fair, he was fighting with himself to stay in control, but she wanted to relish in this bliss for a moment or two longer.

Finally, she exhaled, placing her hands flat on his chest. The unfamiliar warmth remained, but she didn't know what she could do about it. "Okay."

He pulled away from her, and she could feel how hard he had to work to do so. They were still breathing hard, even though they hadn't kissed for many moments, and Sting took several steps back before he managed to look at her again.

She inhaled sharply, noting the familiar dragon scales on his cheeks once more. His eyes were still dark, and she could see the emotions dancing there. She'd awakened a part of him that he tried very hard to keep away from her, and there was no changing that now.

Lucy reached up, gingerly touching her lips. They were swollen from kissing him, her cheeks themselves on fire. Slowly her eyes scanned over him, taking in his disheveled appearance before her pupils widened, stopping at the bulge that had formed in his trousers.

He huffed, barely drawing her attention. "What did you think would happen?"

She wet her lips, turning her attention down to the floor. She only intended to give him a chaste kiss, and somehow things slipped out of her control. Her body was bothered, overheated, and seeing the same reactions from Sting's did nothing to help her state of mind.

Somehow, again, she'd gone and made things worse.

Rigidly, she turned away from him, trying to straighten out her wayward hair and she moved towards her already packed back, snatching it up in her haste to escape the room. "I – I'll go check us out."

Behind her, she heard Sting let out a groan before the door closed behind her. "Yeah, you do that."

* * *

Sting had absolutely no plans for what to do next. After relieving himself upstairs he joined Lucy in the lobby, silently berating himself. Why, _why_ did he let that happen?

Running a hand through his hair, he replayed the moments in his head. He couldn't let that happen again. She wasn't ready to be marked, they weren't ready to deal with the severity of the choice, and he would not have the self-control to turn her down again. If she kissed him a second time, he'd mark her right there.

Groaning, he pinched the bridge of his nose as she came into view. He should've known better, the moment he started getting little whiffs of her from the shower he should've left the room and let her find him downstairs. If he had just played it sage this never would've happened.

She hadn't gotten scared of him, which was the only good thing. Fuck, he'd been able to smell her arousal when they kissed. It almost tipped him over the edge just thinking about it.

Shaking his head, he walked up to her, his bag slung over his shoulder. Uncomfortable or not, he couldn't just abandon her now. She still wanted to go through with this absurd quest, and there was no way in hell he'd let her continue on alone. Rustyrose was still hanging around, and there was no way he'd leave her alone with that fucker nearby.

She cleared her throat as he approached, but didn't manage to say anything. After several uncomfortable moments of staring her eyes skirted away, and she got up swiftly to make for the exit. He followed silently behind, keeping a step or two between them as they walked.

He had a raging headache, and not just from their heated make out that morning. As they walked down the street every one of his senses as alive and roaring, on high alert as he glanced at passersby. He kept waiting for someone to stare at her, set him off again like those two fools in the hallway last night.

He was itching for a fight, something to relieve the pent up energy that was slowly overtaking him.

"I don't know where we're going," Lucy called, stopping in front of him. He nearly ran into her, sidestepping at the last moment to pause at her side.

Sting cocked an eyebrow, surprised. This was the girl who always had a plan. "No ideas?"

She shrugged, looking uncertain. "I have no idea where these people typically hang out. The magic council isn't going to tell me anything, and it's not like people just have this information offhand. Sometimes the papers don't even report it."

He nodded along, tapping his chin. "I don't know honestly. There are a dozen towns in this half of Fiore that could be a headquarters. Without actually knowing something-"

"I want to go back to Everlue's," she interrupted, turning to face him. "The best clues are going to be there. We've found nothing here in Crocus that's going to help us."

Sting froze, his blood going cold at the idea of taking her back there. She might be alright with what they did earlier, but if he took her back to the location where she was assaulted he figured that would be the tipping point.

"No," he said flatly, glaring at her. "Absolutely not."

Lucy scowled. "You're just supposed to be here helping me and making sure nothing happens. You aren't going to dictate were I go. Everlue's is the best option right now. I'm sure there's something there at the hideout that will help us."

He shook his head, unfazed. "That's a godawful idea Lucy. Anything there was already cleared out by the Royal Army. We both know that. Going there is going to do nothing but stir up bad memories."

She held her ground, glaring at him. "It's not like we have any other ideas. I'm not going to wander around aimlessly until something comes to me. That's a waste of time, and people's lives are in danger. If you don't intend to help me Sting then just leave me be."

Sting pressed his lips together, glaring at the back of her head as she turned and stomped off. She had no idea where Everlue's home was, not when she'd only been partially conscious on the way back. He wasn't worried about her locating it, not without his help. And there was absolutely no way he'd take her back, come hell or high water.

He followed behind her, keeping his eyes trained on her form. After this morning there was no doubt in his mind that they were mates, not with the way she felt pressed into his body. He'd never heard a girl moan like she did, never felt someone so readily turn to putty in his hands. If he hadn't spoken up and ruined it he fully believed she would've let him mark her.

He had to maintain some sort of self-control if he intended to keep traveling with her until the mission was complete. She responded too perfectly to his body, and he could not chance kissing her again. She could only test his self-control so many times before he snapped and bit her. Once that happened, there would be no turning back. He would have to wait to mate with her, but once the mark was in place it would be so much harder.

Sting inhaled deeply, following the delicious scent of her shampoo as Lucy stormed through the city. He hoped she didn't get brave and try to kiss him again. After seeing her responses this last time, he knew for certain he'd give in, and the thought was scary even to him.

* * *

 **A/n: I've been gone for a while now, haven't I? Figured I could come back with a little bit of romance snuck in there for you lovely readers.**

 **I'm sorry it took so long to update, my drafts and plans got derailed when I lost them, and we've been going through the horrific process of buying a house. We're under contract, so fingers crossed that it all ends up good! We should be moving next month, so who knows what that will do to the updates here, but I wanted to make sure I got you guys an update so you know I haven't abandoned my stories.**

 **Please leave a review with your thoughts. It's hard to pick up after you've been away, so any thoughts that you guys have are greatly appreciated. Until next time!**


End file.
